The effect of Na on the electronic properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin films: A local-probe study

We investigated the effect of Na incorporation on the electronic properties of polycrystalline CuIn_0.7Ga_0.3Se₂ thin films using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The tunneling spectra indicate a reduced in-gap density of states at grain boundaries and reveal a downward band-bending in Na-rich grain boundaries with respect to the adjacent grains, in agreement with our conductive atomic force microscopy data. It thus appears that Na passivates deep-level defects at grain boundaries and induces a downward band-bending there. Moreover, we provide evidence that Na passivates mainly Cu vacancy related defects. We suggest that the grain-boundary passivation, which reduces the recombination rate of photogenerated carriers, is at least of major importance in the well known Na-induced improvement in the efficiency of the corresponding solar cells.