Reaction kinetics and pathways of MoSe2

Molybdenum is widely used as a back contact for CIGS solar cells due to its low cost and proven electrical and morphological compatibility with CIGS. Furthermore, it is believed that MoSe₂ forms during the absorber synthesis step to yield ohmic contacts with good adhesion. In this study the reaction kinetics of MoSe₂ formation are investigated by reacting Mo films on glass with Se using in-situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD). Isothermal experiments were performed and the kinetics parameters were obtained from analysis of the data using the Avrami and parabolic growth models. The activation energy evaluated from the Avrami and parabolic models yielded 101.2 and 101.7 kJ/mol, respectively.