CIGS solar cells on ultra-thin glass substrates: Determination of mechanical properties by nanoindentation and application to bending-induced strain calculation

Abstract Cu(In, Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) based thin film solar cells have been extensively studied and today, power conversion efficiencies higher than 20% have been demonstrated on both rigid and flexible substrates. However, very little is known about the mechanical resistance of flexible CIGS solar cells under flexion. Here we report an original study on the mechanical properties of CIGS solar cells fabricated on 100 µm-thick ultra-thin glass substrates. The Young's modulus and hardness of Mo and CIGS thin films are measured by nanoindentation, a technique well adapted to the characterization of thin film materials. Young's modulus values of 289 GPa and 70 GPa are obtained for the Mo and the CIGS layers respectively, as well as a CIGS hardness of 3.4 GPa. These values, combined with an analytical model, allow calculating the strain induced in thin film during the flexion of solar cells fabricated on ultra-thin glass substrate as well as on polyimide substrate. Thereby, we show that using a substrate with a low thickness and a low Young's modulus enables to lower the thin films strain during the flexion of cells.