Advantages of using amorphous indium zinc oxide films for window layer in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Abstract The advantages of using indium zinc oxide (IZO) films instead of conventional Ga-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ga) films for Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) solar cells are described. The electrical properties of IZO are independent of film thickness. IZO films have higher mobility (30–40 cm 2 /Vs) and lower resistivity (4–5 × 10 − 4 Ω cm) compared to ZnO:Ga films deposited without intentional heating, because the number of grain boundaries in amorphous IZO films is small. The properties of a CIGS solar cell using IZO at the window layer were better than those obtained using a conventional ZnO:Ga at the window layer; moreover, the properties tended to be independent of thickness. These results indicate that use of IZO as a transparent conducting oxide layer is expected to increase the efficiency of CIGS solar cells.