Patent ID: 8053274

Claim:
A method for fabricating a copper indium diselenide semiconductor film comprising: transferring a plurality of substrates into a furnace, the furnace comprising a processing region and at least one end cap region disengageably coupled to the processing region, wherein each of the plurality of substrates is provided in a vertical orientation with respect to a direction of gravity and includes a copper and indium composite structure; introducing a gaseous species including a hydrogen species and a selenide species and a carrier gas into the furnace; transferring thermal energy into the furnace to increase a temperature from a first temperature to a second temperature, the second temperature ranging from about 350 Degrees Celsius to about 450 Degrees Celsius; initiating formation of a copper indium diselenide film from the copper and indium composite structure; decomposing residual selenide species from an inner region of the processing region; depositing elemental selenium species within a vicinity of the at least one end cap region; and maintaining the inner region substantially free from elemental selenium species.