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Interfaces and Extended Structural Defects in Chalcopyrite Thin-Film Solar Cells Studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy
- Source :
- Microscopy and Microanalysis. 20:530-531
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2014.
-
Abstract
- Electronic defects at interfaces between different materials or at extended structural defects such as grain boundaries (GB) or dislocations can deteriorate the performance of a semiconductor device considerably. Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells consist of several interfaces between individual layers of different materials. In addition, the main light-absorbing layer, the CIGS absorber, exhibits a high density of GBs (i.e., the average grain size is typically smaller than the layer thickness) as well as of dislocations (up to 10 10 cm -2 in high-efficiency solar cells [1]). Still, CIGS solar cells exhibit highest power-conversion efficiencies of up to 20.8 % [2]. Today, the roles of interfaces and extended structural defects in the solar-cell device are not yet fully understood, although extensive research efforts have been made. We applied various methods in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), such as inline electron holography, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), as well as energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) in order to obtain more information about these features.
Details
- ISSN :
- 14358115 and 14319276
- Volume :
- 20
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Microscopy and Microanalysis
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........1600a2aa43573f8e26e3afc67c9affbd
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1431927614004371