Influence of Flash Lamp Annealing on the Optical Properties of CIGS Layer

Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) becomes more significant for solar cell applications as an alternative to silicon. The quality of the layer has a critical impact on the final efficiency of the solar cell. An influence of the post-deposition millisecond range flash lamp annealing on the optical and microstructural properties of the CIGS films was investigated. Based on the Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy, it is shown that flash lamp annealing reduces the defect concentration and leads to an increase of the photoluminescence intensity by a factor of six compared to the nonannealed sample. Moreover, after flash lamp annealing the degradation of the photoluminescence is significantly suppressed and the absolute absorption in the wavelength range of 200-1200 nm increases by 25%.