The copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2, or CIS) is a polycrystalline thin-film photovoltaic material that occasionally contains sulfur and/or gallium (CIGS). Due to its advantageous electrical and optical characteristics, (CuInSe2) thin-film technology has been regarded as promising for solar cells ever since it was first developed. It was later discovered that the bandgap could be raised from around 1.04 electron volts (eV) for (CIS) films to approximately 1.68 eV for copper gallium diselenide (CGS) films by substituting gallium (Ga) for indium (In). Ga has been partially substituted for In in order to build optimal devices, which has resulted in a significant improvement in overall efficiency and a more ideal bandgap. Copper indium gallium diselenide [CuInSe2, or CIS] solar cells are also referred to as CIGS solar cells.
What are the Benefits of Copper Indium Diselenide?
The benefits of CuInSe2 are:
- High Absorption: This direct-bandgap material has the best efficiency of any thin-film technology because it can absorb a large percentage of the solar spectrum.
- Tandem design: Tandem CIGS devices are possible with a configurable bandgap.
- Protective buffer layer: Films with grain sizes of less than 1 micrometer can be employed in the manufacturing of devices because the grain boundaries create an intrinsic buffer layer that prevents surface recombination.
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What is the Production Technique of Copper Indium Diselenide?
In the 1980s, two of the low-cost deposition techniques that resulted in the highest device and module efficiencies were created. These approaches are:
- Co-evaporation involves re-depositing precursor components on a heated substrate after allowing them to sublimate in a high-vacuum environment.
- Precursor Reaction Processes, in which one of a number of techniques, including sputtering or electroplating, is used to deposit a precursor comprising Cu and In/Ga at a low temperature. After that, CIGS films are created by reactive annealing in a Se compound, such as hydrogen selenide (H2Se) or gaseous selenium (Se). This is also frequently referred to as two-stage deposition; a three-stage deposition variant of this technique is also frequently utilized.