Slot Die Coating of CIGS Nanoparticle Inks for Scalable Solution Processed Photovoltaics

Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)
₂
photovoltaics are an attractive absorber material that have demonstrated high efficiencies in excess of 22% using vacuum processes. In order to further reduce production costs, high throughput, high materials utilization, and solution based fabrication techniques such as slot die coating must be realized. In this work a wide variety of coating parameters were explored to enable high quality, uniform, and crack free coatings of Cu(In,Ga)S
₂
nanoparticle inks via slot die coating under ambient conditions. Slot die coated films were selenized and completed into full devices yielding active area efficiencies up to 11.7%, demonstrating the feasibility of the technique for large scale manufacturing.