Amorphous Indium Selenide Thin Films Prepared by RF Sputtering: Thickness-Induced Characteristics

The influence of indium composition, controlled by changing the film thickness, on the optical and electrical properties of amorphous indium selenide thin films was studied for the application of these materials as Cd-free buffer layers in CI(G)S solar cells. Indium selenide thin films were prepared using RF magnetron sputtering method. The indium composition of the amorphous indium selenide thin films was varied from 94.56 to 49.72 at% by increasing the film thickness from 30 to 70 nm. With a decrease in film thickness, the optical transmittance increased from 87.63% to 96.03% and Eg decreased from 3.048 to 2.875 eV. Carrier concentration and resistivity showed excellent values of ≥1015 cm(-3) and ≤ 10(4) Ω x cm, respectively. The conductivity type of the amorphous indium selenide thin films could be controlled by changing the film-thickness-induced amount of In. These results indicate the possibility of tuning the properties of amorphous indium selenide thin films by changing their composition for use as an alternate buffer layer material in CI(G)S solar cells.