Arrangement of flexible foil substrates for CuInSe2-based solar cells

Metallic foils of aluminium, titanium, stainless steel and Ni-alloys (Kovar (TM)) have been arranged as flexible substrates for thin film solar cells. For this purpose, they have been coated with SiO2 by a sol-gel process. Fo llowing this, Mo has been deposited by DC-sputtering onto the SiO2. The mor phology, structure and optical properties of these samples have been analys ed as grown and after annealing in a selenium atmosphere at temperatures ra nging from 400 to 600 degreesC. No selenium is incorporated in the samples but oxygen appears at all annealing temperatures as crystalline MoO, decrea sing the total optical reflectance. Only on Ti and Kovar (TM) foils does th e molybdenum remain crack-free after annealing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B .V All rights reserved.