Reaction apparatus and method for manufacturing a CIGS absorber of a thin film solar cell

An apparatus for manufacturing a CIGS-based absorber material of a thin film solar cell, the apparatus comprising:

• a supply chamber configured to provide a flexible substrate having a surface region coated with one or more precursor materials;
• a reaction chamber coupled to the supply chamber for receiving and heating the flexible substrate in transportation, and subjecting the one or more precursor materials to a reactive gas at a first state to form an absorber material;
• a receiving chamber coupled to the reaction chamber for receiving the flexible substrate with the formed absorber material;
• a gas-balancing chamber filled with the reactive gas at a second state, the gas-balancing chamber being communicated with the reaction chamber for automatically updating the first state of the reactive gas to the second state;
• and
• a control system coupled at least to the reaction chamber and the gas-balancing chamber to maintain the second state of the reactive gas in the gas-balancing chamber at a preset condition and to adjust the transportation of the flexible substrate through the reaction chamber;
• wherein the reaction chamber is configured to be an elongated channel having a height limited to a range between 3 mm and 30 mm and further comprises at least two pairs of auxiliary rollers for clamping and transporting the flexible substrate at two separate locations in the elongated channel to divide the reaction chamber sequentially into a pre-heating region, a reaction region, a cooling region;
• wherein the elongated channel is configured to start from a horizontal portion of the pre-heating region, change to an ascending portion at a first turning position by a first angle, extend the ascending portion of the pre-heating region to an ascending portion of the reaction region up to an apex position, change the ascending portion of the reaction region to a descending portion of the reaction region at the apex position by a second angle, extend the descending portion of the reaction region to a descending portion of the cooling region, change the descending portion of the cooling region to a horizontal portion of the cooling region at a second turning position by a third angle, the first angle being set to a range from 0 degree up to 45 degrees, the second angle being substantially equal to 2× of the first angle, the third angle being substantially equal to the first angle.