Abstract: A new concept of full vacuum manufacturing for Cu-Ⅲ-Ⅳ2 thin-film solar cells has been discussed Cu-Ⅲ-Ⅳ2 thin-film solar cells manufactured using full in-line reactive sputtering will result in lower cost than that of the conventional method with CdS layer fabricated with chemical bath deposition (CBS) method. Using reactive sputtering process with organometallic gases, the compositions and electronic properties of Cu-Ⅲ-Ⅳ2 thin-film can be fine-tuned and precisely controlled, n-type Cu-Ⅲ-Ⅳ2 film and ZnS suffer layer can also be deposited using the in-line sputtering instead of using the CdS layer. The environmental pollution problems arising from using CdS can be eliminated and the ultimate goal of full in-line process development can then be realized. Some preliminary experimental results on a modal solar cell fabricated by the new technique in the new concept have been presented.

Key words: Cu-III-VI2 thin film solar cells, full reactive sputtering