Ink for producing compound semiconductor thin film, compound semiconductor thin film produced using the ink, solar cell having compound semiconductor the thin film, and process for producing solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9312409-B2
Application number	US-201313768018-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2013
Priority date	Aug 17, 2010
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

An ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film is provided, which contains a binder includes a compound includes an S atom or an Se atom and metallic compound particles which are both dispersed in an organic solvent. A compound semiconductor thin film is formed by applying or printing the ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film and heat-treating it. A solar cell is constituted, which has a light-absorbing layer formed of the compound semiconductor thin film.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film comprising:
an organic solvent;
a binder comprising a compound comprising an S atom or an Se atom, the binder being dispersed in the organic solvent; and
metallic compound particles dispersed in the organic solvent, the metallic compound particles being a compound semiconductor comprising Cu, Zn, Sn and at least one of S and Se, wherein
the compound comprising an S atom or an Se atom is represented by the following chemical formula:

X represents an S atom or an Se atom, and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , and R 4 independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group or an aryl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms,
the metallic compound particles and the binder are such that
the metallic compound particles contain an Se atom and the binder contains an S atom and optionally an Se atom,
the metallic compound particles contain an S atom and the binder contains an Se atom and optionally an S atom, or
the metallic compound particles contain an S atom and an Se atom and the binder contains at least one of an S atom and an Se atom, and

an S/(S+Se) molar ratio of a mixture of the binder contained in the ink and the metallic compound particles is from 0.05 to 0.9.

2. The ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film according to claim 1 , wherein an average particle diameter of the metallic compound particles is from 1 to 200 nm.

3. The ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film according to claim 1 , wherein the metallic compound particles are Cu 2 ZnSn(S x Se 1-x ) 4 (0≦x≦1) particles.

4. A compound semiconductor thin film, which is formed by applying or printing the ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film according to claim 1 and heat-treating it.

5. A solar cell comprising a light-absorbing layer formed of the compound semiconductor thin film according to claim 4 .

6. A process for producing a solar cell comprising:
forming a compound semiconductor coating film by applying or printing the ink for forming a compound semiconductor thin film according to claim 1 on an electrode formed on a substrate; and
forming a light-absorbing layer formed of the compound semiconductor thin film by heat-treating the compound semiconductor coating film.

Assignees

• Toppan Printing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Yiwen
• Yamada Akira

Classifications

• H10P14/3461

  Nanoparticles · CPC title

• H10P14/3436 Primary

  being chalcogenide semiconductor materials not being oxides, e.g. ternary compounds · CPC title

• H10P14/265

  using solutions · CPC title

• H10F77/126

  comprising only Group I-III-VI chalcopyrite materials, e.g. CuInSe2, CuGaSe2 or CuInGaSe2 [CIGS] · CPC title

• H10F77/12

  Active materials · CPC title