2.4.3 CuInSe2 and other Chalcogenides

There are a lot of "Chalcogenides", meaning compounds with "Chalcogens", i.e. S, Se, and Te as major elements (O, in the same IIa group, forms "oxides").
The general recipe is to form a IB - IIIA - VI compound. In group IB we have essentially Cu, Ag, Au; in group IIIA we find B, Al, Ga, In.
That allows us, for example, to produce CuInS2 or CuInSe2 ("CIS"), but also Cu3In5Se9, Cu2In4Se7 - look up the link for many more.
Like before, we can "mix", e.g. produce CuInxGa1-xSySe2-y and so on. In case of doubt we call the whole family "CIGS".
It certainly looks like there is plenty of work left for you, but "CIS" or "CIGS" solar cells are actually on the market.
Moreover, there are "simple" chalcogenides like CdTe, which are on the market for solar cells but not even contained in the long list in the link from above.
We obviously have a big success story here. We will look at some of this later in more detail.


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© H. Föll (Semiconductor Technology - Script)