Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ solar cell with 16.7% active-area efficiency achieved by sputtering from a quaternary target

In this work, we report the fabrication method of sputtering from a CIGS quaternary target to obtain high-efficiency CIGS thin-film solar-cell devices. The as-deposited CIGS absorbers are prepared by sputtering from a CIGS target and a subsequent annealing treatment under the Ar+H₂Se (5% H₂Se) atmosphere is applied on the absorbers. A high conversion efficiency of 16.7% is achieved with an average conversion efficiency of 15.9% over 10cm×10cm on soda-lime glass. This result shows sputtering directly from a quaternary CIGS target is a very promising fabrication method to obtain high-performance solar-cell devices and is suitable for the further fabrication of large-area devices and modules. J-V characteristic curve of the CIGS solar cell with the best efficiency achieved by sputtering from a quaternary target.