We studied the change of photovoltaic properties of a flexible CuIn_xGa(_1-x)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cell fabricated on polyimide by mechanical bending with curvature radii of 75 mm (75R) and 20 mm (20R). The flexible CIGS cells were flattened on a PET film, then placed and forced against the surface of a curved block fabricated with pre-designed curvatures. Both up (compressive) and down (tensile) bending were applied to a specimen of CIGS on PET with curvatures of 75R and 20R for 10,000 times and 2,000 times, respectively. From J-V measurements, we found that the conversion efficiency (Eff.) was reduced by 3% and 4% for up-and down-bending, respectively, at curvature 75R; it was greatly reduced by 15% for curvature 20R in the up-bending. However, the open circuit voltage (V_oc) and short-circuit current density (J_sc) seemed to change little, within 3%, for the applied mechanical stresses. The degradation in Eff. resulted from the deterioration of the series (R_s) and shunt (R_sh) resistances of the solar cell.

ZnS was chemically deposited as a buffer layer alternative to CdS, for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in Cu(In_1-xGa_x)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells. The deposition of a thin film of ZnS was carried out by chemical bath deposition, following which the structural and optical properties of the ZnS layer were studied. For the experiments, zinc sulfate hepta-hydrate (ZnSO₄·7H₂O), thiourea (SC(NH₂)₂), and ammonia (NH₄OH) were used as the reacting agents. The mole concentrations of ZnSO₄ and SC(NH₂)₂ were fixed at 0.03 M and 0.8 M, respectively, while that of ammonia, which acts as a complexing agent, was varied from 0.3 M to 3.5 M. By varying the mole concentration of ammonia, optimal values for parameters like optical transmission, deposition rate, and surface morphology were determined. For the fixed mole concentrations of 0.03 M ZnSO₄·7H₂O and 0.8 M SC(NH₂)₂, it was established that 3.0 M of ammonia could provide optimal values of the deposition rate (5.5 nm/min), average optical transmittance (81%), and energy band gap (3.81 eV), rendering the chemically deposited ZnS suitable for use as a Cd-free buffer layer in CIGS solar cells.

CIGS is one of thin film solar cell and has been studied so much, because of the possibility of low price and high efficiency. Until now, co-evaporation and sputtering were typical method to prepare CIGS absorption layer, and a few company commercialized solar cell by these method. However,non-vacuum process which has been studied for long time has not been progressed, though the merit of low price. Especially, aerosol deposition method has not been reported, because it is difficult to prepare a large quantity of various CIGS powder. In this study, CIGS powder was synthesized by mechanochemical method and CIGS absorption layer was deposited by aerosol deposition method. The thickness of the CIGS layer was controlled by the number of deposition and the surface roughness of it was affected by the amount of flow gas. And, also, I-V curve of it appeared metallic property in the case of ‘as deposition’. After heat treatment in Se-rich atmosphere, the electrical property of it changed to a semiconductor. CdS and transparent conduction layer were formed by a typical method on it for solar cell. The efficiency of cell was appeared 0.19%. Though the efficiency was low because of the disharmony in the after-process, it was conformed that CIGS solar cell could be prepared by aerosol deposition.

In this study, Cu(In, 5,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin films were prepared on the Mo coated soda-lime glass by the DC magnetron sputtering and a subsequent selenization process. For the selenization process. selenization rapid thermai process(WIP) with cracker cell, which was helpful to smaller an atomic of Se, was adopted. To make GIGS layer, they were then annealed with the cracked Se. Based on this selenization method, we made several GIGS thin film and investigated the effects of In deposition time, and selenization time. Through x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), it is found that the Mo/In/CuGa structure and the high sputtering power shows the dominant chalcopyrite structure and have a uniform distribution of the grain size. The CIGS films with the In deposition time of 5 ruin has the best structure due to the smooth surface. And CIGS films with the selenization time of 50 mm show good crystalline growth without any voids.

Cu(In1-x,Gax)Se2 thin films have been considered as an effective absorber material for high efficient solar cells. In this paper, the CIGS thin films with varied Ga content were prepared using a co-evaporation process of three stage. We carry out structure and electrical optical property on the thin film in varied Ga content. CIGS thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy(EDS), four-point probe measurement, and the Hall measurement. To optimize Ga contents, Ga/(In+Ga) ratio were changed from 0.13 to 0.72. At this time the carrier concentrations were varied from 1.22×10(11) cm-3 to 5.07×10(16) cm-3, and electrical resistivity were varied from 1.11×10(0) Ω-cm to 1.08×10(2) Ω-cm. A strong <220/204> orientation and a lager grain size were obtained at a Ga/(In+Ga) of 0.3. We were able to achieve conversion efficiency as high as 15.95% with a Ga/(In+Ga) of 0.3.