Rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis of elemental composition of Cu(In, Ga)Se2 thin films using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

The composition of Cu, In, Ga, and Se constituting the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) layer is important for the performance of the thin film. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is very useful in quantitative analysis of elemental composition. In this paper, detection parameters of LIBS were optimized, and the CIGS thin films deposited at different sputtering powers were detected. LIBS results showed that the intensity ratio (Ga/(ln+Ga)) of the analytical spectral line of CIGS film increased initially then reduced with an increase of the sputtering power, and the evolution was consistent with optical bandgaps calculated from the transmission spectra. The intensity ratios of Ga/(ln+Ga) and Cu/(ln+Ga) detected were very highly correlated corresponding to the value obtained from energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. All results indicate that it is available and feasible of LIBS to fabricate high-performance CIGS thin film using the one-step radio frequency magnetron sputtering method.