The influence of Na on metastable defect kinetics in CIGS materials

Abstract The electronic properties of matched pairs of Cu(In x Ga 1 − x )Se 2 (CIGS) solar cells, with and without normal sodium levels, were studied by junction capacitance methods including admittance spectroscopy, drive level capacitance profiling (DLCP) and transient photocapacitance spectroscopy (TPC). The capacitance profiling measurements revealed a large deep defect density in the vicinity of the barrier interface that was likely responsible for the lower performance of the reduced Na samples. The metastable properties of CIGS solar cells were also examined, and these revealed marked differences between the two types of samples. These results directly address the predictions of theoretical microscopic models that have been proposed to account for metastable effects in CIGS.