Thermal pre-treatment process for soda lime glass substrate for thin film photovoltaic materials

1. A method for fabricating a thin film solar cell, the method comprising:

providing a soda lime glass substrate having a surface region;

treating the surface region with an aqueous solution containing an acid to remove contaminants;

subsequently forming a lower electrode layer including a conductive metal over the surface region;

performing a thermal treatment process on the soda lime glass substrate and the lower electrode layer to remove residual water species such that there is substantially less than a monolayer of water species on the soda lime glass substrate and the overlying lower electrode layer, wherein the thermal treatment process comprises heating the soda lime glass substrate to less than 90 degrees Celsius;

transferring the soda lime glass substrate while still in a heated state to a deposition chamber;

forming a layer of photovoltaic material over the lower electrode layer within the deposition chamber; and

forming a first zinc oxide layer over the layer of photovoltaic material.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing the thermal treatment process comprises directing radiation from a plurality of infrared heaters from a backside of the soda lime glass substrate.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the changed temperature of the soda lime glass is maintained for less than about 250 seconds.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the performing the thermal treatment process comprises rolling the soda lime glass substrate back and forth above the plurality of infrared heaters.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the layer of photovoltaic material comprises one or more precursor layers of an absorber material.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more precursor layers comprises at least a copper layer and/or an indium layer.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a barrier layer overlying the surface region before forming the lower electrode layer overlying the barrier layer, such that the lower electrode does not contact the surface region.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the barrier layer comprises a silicon dioxide layer of about 500 Angstroms or less for keeping sodium species within the soda lime glass substrate during the thermal treatment process.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of treating the surface region with an aqueous solution containing an acid comprises using a water based solution of about 0.15% of acid containing potassium dichromate or sulfuric acid.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of treating the surface region with an aqueous solution containing an acid comprises using a water based solution of less than 0.15% of acid containing hydrochloric acid.

11. A method for fabricating a thin film solar cell comprising:

providing a soda lime glass substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface;

treating both the upper and lower surfaces with an aqueous solution containing about 0.15% acid;

rinsing the treated substrate in isopropyl alcohol;

subsequently rinsing the substrate in deionized water;

forming a molybdenum electrode layer over the treated and rinsed upper surface region;

heating the lower surface of the substrate so the substrate is raised to an elevated temperature of less than 90 degrees Celsius;

while maintaining the elevated temperature, transferring the substrate to a deposition chamber;

using the deposition chamber, forming photovoltaic material over the electrode layer; and

forming a zinc oxide layer over the layer of photovoltaic material.