Patent ID: 8871560

Claim:
A method for annealing a solar cell structure, comprising: forming an absorber layer on a molybdenum (Mo) layer of a solar cell base structure, the solar cell base structure including a substrate and the Mo layer located on the substrate, and the absorber layer comprising semiconductor chalcogenide material; and annealing and sulferizing the solar cell base structure by exposing an outer layer of the solar cell base structure to a plasma formed from a gas including sulfur, the plasma formed by positioning the solar cell base structure between radio frequency (RF) coils and activating the RF coils to form a region of plasma on the outer layer of the solar cell base structure, wherein annealing and sulferizing the solar sell base structure results in a preliminary solar cell structure, and the method further comprising: forming a buffer layer on the preliminary solar cell structure; forming a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer on the buffer layer; and annealing the preliminary solar cell structure including the buffer layer and the TCO layer by exposing the TCO layer to a plasma formed from a gas including oxygen.