Back to Search Start Over

Interfaces and Extended Structural Defects in Chalcopyrite Thin-Film Solar Cells Studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy

Authors :
Daniel Abou-Ras
Sebastian S. Schmidt
Christoph Koch
S. Merdes
J. Dietrich
Bernhard Schaffer
Miroslava Schaffer
M. Klingsporn
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