Band Bending Independent of Surface Passivation in ZnO/CdS/Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Heterojunctions and Cr/Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Schottky Contacts

We have employed admittance spectroscopy and deep-level transient spectroscopy in order to investigate the electronic properties of ZnO/CdS/Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)$_2$ heterojunctions and Cr/Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)$_2$ Schottky contacts. Our work concentrates on the origin of an energy-distributed defect state commonly found in these systems. The activation energy of the defect state addressed continuously shifts upon air annealing or damp-heat treatment and is a valuable measure of the degree of band bending in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)$_2$-based junctions. We demonstrate that the band bending within the Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)$_2$ layer, reported in the literature to become minimal after air exposure, returns after the formation of either a Schottky contact or a heterojunction. The earlier phenomenon turns out to be independent of a surface passivation due to the CdS bath deposition.