Innovative and industrially viable approach to fabricate AlOx rear passivated ultra-thin Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells.

In this work, an industrially viable and novel rear surface passivation approach for Copper Indium Gallium di-Selenide, Cu(In,Ga)Se₂, CIGS, ultra-thin (500 nm) solar cells is developed. The passivation layer was deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), and an alkali treatment was applied via spin coating. It was observed that selenization of the samples is required to create contact openings. The openings were visualized by SEM, and these results were supported by EDS. The impact of the oxide layer’s thickness, as well as the alkali solution’s molarity, was studied. Solar cells were produced for the optimal combination of these two parameters. As a result, with a relative 13% increase, the highest V_oc of 623 mV was achieved. Hence, the efficiency of the passivated solar cell was relatively increased by one-third, by using an industrially feasible, fast, and repeatable technique.