Nitrogen doped chalcopyrites as contacts to CdTe photovoltaics

CuInSe₂ (CIS) thin films have been shown to have extremely wide variability in resistivity, over 4 orders of magnitude. Highly conductive CIS offers many potential uses, including as a stable Cu-containing back contact for CdTe, or as a potential material for tunnel junctions in CIS devices. In an attempt to produce consistent, highly conductive, thin CIS films we introduced N ₂ during the deposition process as well as implanting films with N separately. We were able to produce highly conductive films with the addition of N to the films. The change in electrical properties was not consistent when to N ₂ gas was added during film growth.