Influence of annealing conditions on the properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films fabricated by electrodeposition

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) precursor films were deposited on Mo/glass by electrodeposition, and then annealed in Se vapor. The annealing temperature ranged from 450 °C to 580 °C, and two heating rates were selected. The results showed that the crystalline quality of the CIGS films and formation of the Cu-Se compound could be strongly influenced by the selenization temperature and heating rate. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that when the selenization temperature was increased from 450 °C to 550 °C, the amount of binary CuSe phase decreased and the amount of Cu2Se increased. After annealing at 580 °C, a minimum amount of Cu2−xSe compounds was obtained and the degree of CIGS film crystallinity was higher than in other samples. The relationship between the properties of the film and the heating rate was studied. XRD and Raman spectra showed a decrease in the Cu2−xSe phase with increasing heating rate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD showed a remarkable increase in the grain size of CIGS during rapid heating.