Impact of metallic potassium post-deposition treatment on epitaxial Cu(In,Ga)Se2

•Diffusion of metallic potassium into single crystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber.•Stronger in-diffusion of potassium into Cu-poor single-crystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2.•Higher photoluminescence yield for potassium deposited Cu(In,Ga)Se2. Alkali post-deposition treatments (PDTs) of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) absorbers are known to improve the power conversion efficiency of the thin-film solar cell devices. The PDTs are usually carried out via evaporation of alkali fluorides in a selenium atmosphere onto a hot substrate. In this work, an alkali metal dispenser was used to evaporate pure metallic potassium onto epitaxial CIGSe absorbers. Subsequently, the absorber layers were heated in-situ to monitor chemical reactions and diffusion into the bulk. Due to the absence of grain boundaries, fluorine, and selenium, the effect of K on CIGSe absorber properties can be directly monitored. We find that potassium effectively diffuses into the bulk of epitaxial CIGSe absorber layers. The diffusion depends on the Cu-content of the CIGSe absorbers, in which Cu-depleted films present higher diffusion rates of K. Photoluminescence (PL) imaging corroborates that K in the bulk of the CIGSe absorber increases the PL yield, suggesting a passivation of defects or an increase in doping. This work highlights that alkali PDTs are not limited by interface and grain boundary modifications but also changes the absorber bulk properties, which needs to be taken into account.