Second phases in CdS/CuInSe2 solar cells

Though second phases consisting of Cu 2-x Se or In 2 O 3 are known to occur in CuInSe 2 deposited by various methods and on a variety of substrates, establishing whether these second phases are present in CdS/CuInSe 2 heterojunction solar cells has been complicated by the additional material layers in the solar cells. Hence the effect of second phases on the electrical properties and device performance has not been specified in detail in previous studies of this structure. In this paper the authors investigate the use of x-ray diffraction to determine whether second phases are present in CdS/CuInSe 2 solar cells prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis. On phase in the CuInSe 2 of the solar cells. An attempt to remove Cu 2-x Se by chemically selective etches failed, perhaps because the diffraction peak attributed to Cu 2-x Se actually had a different cause. Future studies will attempt to determine this cause. If a second phase is the cause, both removing it or preventing its formation will be studied in an effort to determine its effect on solar cell efficiency.