Deep absorption band in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin films and solar cells observed by transparent piezoelectric photothermal spectroscopy

The photo-acoustic spectroscopy (PAS) using a transparent piezoelectric photo-thermal (Tr-PPT) method was carried out on Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin films (both CIGS/Mo/SLG and CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG) and solar cells (ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG). Using the Tr-PPT method, the high background absorption in the below gap region observed in both a microphone and a conventional transducer PAS spectra was strongly reduced. This high background absorption came from the CIGS/Mo interface. This result proves that the Tr-PPT PAS is the surface sensitive method. In the below-band region, a bell-shape deep absorption band has been observed at 0.76 eV, in which a full-width at the half-maximum value was 70-120 meV. This deep absorption band was observed for both CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG and ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/SLG structures. The peak energy of the absorption band was independent of the alloy composition for 0.25≤Ga/III≤0.58. Intensity of the PA signal was negatively correlated to the Na concentration at the CIGS film surface. The origin of the 0.76 eV peak is discussed with relation to native defects such as a Cu-vacancy-related defect (copyright 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)