Development of gold induced surface plasmon enhanced CIGS absorption layer on polyimide substrate

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) with metal nanoparticles is the promising phenomenon to increase light absorption by trapping light in thin film solar cells. In this study we demonstrate a successful LSPR effect with gold (Au) nanoparticles onto the Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorption layer. First, the CIGS absorber layers is fabricated onto the Mo coated polyimide (PI) substrate by using two stage process as DC sputtering of CIG thin film followed by the selenization at 400 °C. Finally, the Au nanoparticles are deposited onto the CIGS layer with increasing particles size from 4–15 nm by using sputter coater for 10–120 s. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm the formation of CIGS/Au nanocomposite structure with prominent peak shift of CIGS reflections and increasing intensity for Au phase. The CIGS/Au nanocomposite morphologies with Au particle size distribution uniformity and surface coverage is examined under ultra-high resolution field effect scanning electron microscope (UHR-FESEM). A peak at 176 cm −1 in Raman spectra, associated with the “A1” mode of lattice vibration for the attributed to the pure chalcopyrite structure. The secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) showed ∼200 nm depth converge of Au nanoparticles into the CIGS absorption layer. The optical properties as transmittance, reflectance and absorbance of CIGS/Au layers were found to expand in the infrared region and the LSPR effect is the most prominent for Au particles (5–7 nm) deposited for 60 s. The absorption coefficient and band gap measurement also confirms that the LSPR effect for 5–7 nm Au particles with band gap improvement from 1.31 to 1.52 eV for CIGS/Au layer as the defect density decreases due to the deposition of Au nanoparticles onto the CIGS layer. Such LSPR effect in CIGS/Au nanocomposite absorption layer will be a key parameter to further improve performance of the solar cell.