A method for manufacturing a compound film comprising a substrate and at least one additional layer is disclosed. The method comprising the steps of depositing at least two chemical elements on the substrate and/or on the at least one additional layer using depositions sources, maintaining depositing of the at least two chemical elements while the substrate and the deposition sources are being moved relative to each other, measuring the compound film properties, particularly being compound film thickness, compound-film overall composition, and compound-film composition in one or several positions of the compound film, comparing the predefined values for the compound film properties to the measured compound film properties, and adjusting the deposition of the at least two chemical elements in case the measured compound film properties do not match the predefined compound film properties.

Provided are a sputtering target that is capable of forming a CuGa film, which has an added Ga concentration of 1 to 40 at % and into which Na is well added, by a sputtering method and a method for producing the sputtering target. The sputtering target has a component composition that contains 1 to 40 at % of Ga, 0.05 to 2 at % of Na as metal element components other than F, S and Se, and the balance composed of Cu and unavoidable impurities. The sputtering target contains Na in at least one form selected from among sodium fluoride, sodium sulfide, and sodium selenide, and has a content of oxygen of from 100 to 1,000 ppm.

A solar cell apparatus according to the embodiment includes a support substrate including a plurality of patterns; a back electrode layer on the support substrate; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer; and a front electrode layer on the buffer layer, wherein the patterns are formed in an undercut structure including a first inner side surface, a second inner side surface and a bottom surface.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device and an electronic apparatus capable of reducing a leak current of a PN junction region. In a Si substrate, an N+ region is formed in a P-type Well (P_Well region). A depletion layer is formed in the circumference of a boundary (metallurgic boundary of a PN junction) between the P_Well region and the N+ region. On the surface of the Si substrate, a fixed charge layer having positive fixed charge is formed on the N+ region to be spanned to the depletion layer. The present disclosure is applicable to a CMOS solid-state imaging device used in an imaging apparatus such as a camera.

A photovoltaic device includes a substrate, a back contact layer disposed above the substrate, and an absorber layer disposed above the back contact layer. The absorber layer includes at least two regions at respectively different horizontally locations. Each respective region has a respectively different concentration profile of an ingredient at a respective depth of the absorber layer.

The present invention relates to an exclusive alloy substrate material for CIGS solar cells. Particularly, the present invention provides a substrate material having a thermal expansion coefficient similar to that of a CIGS layer. The substrate material according to the present invention may prevent damage such as interlayer separation due to differing thermal expansion coefficients from occurring because the substrate material has a thermal expansion coefficient similar to that of the CIGS layer.

A method (200) for fabricating thin-film optoelectronic devices (100), the method comprising: providing a substrate (110), forming a back-contact layer (120); forming at least one absorber layer (130) made of an ABC chalcogenide material, adding at least one alkali metal (235), and forming at least one cavity (236, 610, 612, 613) at the surface of the absorber layer wherein forming of said at least one cavity is by dissolving away from said surface of the absorber layer at least one crystal aggregate comprising at least one alkali crystal comprising at least one alkali metal. The method (200) is advantageous for more environmentally-friendly production of photovoltaic devices (100) on flexible substrates with high photovoltaic conversion efficiency and faster production rate.

A method is provided for fabricating a thin-film semiconductor device. The method includes providing a plurality of raw semiconductor materials. The raw semiconductor materials undergo a pre-reacting process to form a homogeneous compound semiconductor material. This pre-reaction typically includes processing above the liquidus temperature of the compound semiconductor. The compound semiconductor material is reduced to a particulate form and deposited onto a substrate to form a thin-film having a composition and atomic structure substantially the same as a composition and atomic structure of the compound semiconductor material.

The invention relates to manufacturing a I-III-VI compound in the form of a thin film for use in photovoltaics, including the steps of: a) electrodepositing a thin-film structure, consisting of I and/or III elements, onto the surface of an electrode that forms a substrate (SUB); and b) incorporating at least one VI element into the structure so as to obtain the I-III-VI compound. According to the invention, the electrodeposition step comprises checking that the uniformity of the thickness of the thin film varies by no more than 3% over the entire surface of the substrate receiving the deposition.

Disclosed is a method of forming a CIGS-based thin film having high efficiency using a simple process at relatively low temperatures. The method includes an Ag thin film forming step and an ACIGS forming step of depositing Cu, In, Ga, and Se on the surface of the Ag thin film using a vacuum co-evaporation process. Ag, constituting the Ag thin film, is completely diffused, while Cu, In, Ga, and Se are deposited to form ACIGS together with Cu, In, Ga, and Se co-evaporated in a vacuum during the ACIGS forming step. The Ag thin film is formed and CIGS elements are then deposited using vacuum co-evaporation to form an ACIGS thin film having improved power generation efficiency at a relatively low temperature of 400 C. or less using only a single-stage vacuum co-evaporation process.