Deposition and Characterization of Chemically Synthesized Copper Indium diSelenide (CIS) Thin Films for Solar Energy Applications

High energy band gap CIS thin films have been generated for the design of photovoltaics/solar cells using chemical bath deposition technique. The deposition was based on the reaction between aqueous solutions of CuCl2.2H2O, InCl3.4H2O and Na2SeSO3, in an alkaline medium of NH3 (aq), TEA and EDTA being the complexing agents. Optical properties of the deposited thin films were measured with the aid of Avantes UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer in the wavelength range 200-900nm. Also, the electrical properties (reflection, transmission and absorption data) were obtained using Four Point-Probe machine. Results obtained from the optical and electrical characterization of the films indicate that CIS can be potentially used as window layers in hetero-junction solar cells because they exhibited high band gap energy and low electrical resistivity which are required properties for window layers.