Grazing Incidence Cross-Sectioning of Thin-Film Solar Cells via Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam: A Case Study on CIGSe

Miguel Contreras; Kasra Sardashti; Richard Haight; Ryan Anderson; Bernd Fruhberger; Andrew Kummel

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b04214

Grazing Incidence Cross-Sectioning of Thin-Film Solar Cells via Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam: A Case Study on CIGSe

Miguel Contreras, Kasra Sardashti, Richard Haight, Ryan Anderson, Bernd Fruhberger, Andrew Kummel

Materials Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Cryogenic focused ion beam (Cryo-FIB) milling at near-grazing angles is employed to fabricate cross-sections on thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 with >8x expansion in thickness. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) on sloped cross sections showed reduction in grain boundaries potential deeper into the film. Cryo Fib-KPFM enabled the first determination of the electronic structure of the Mo/CIGSe back contact, where a sub 100 nm thick MoSey assists hole extraction due to 45 meV higher work function. This demonstrates that CryoFIB-KPFM combination can reveal new targets of opportunity for improvement in thin-films photovoltaics such as high-work-function contacts to facilitate hole extraction through the back interface of CIGS.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	14994-14999
Number of pages	6
Journal	ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume	8
Issue number	24
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b04214
State	Published - 2016

NREL Publication Number

NREL/JA-5K00-66733

Keywords

back contacts
CIGSe
Cryo-FIB
KPFM
thin-film photovoltaics

Access to Document

10.1021/acsami.6b04214

Cite this

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title = "Grazing Incidence Cross-Sectioning of Thin-Film Solar Cells via Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam: A Case Study on CIGSe",

abstract = "Cryogenic focused ion beam (Cryo-FIB) milling at near-grazing angles is employed to fabricate cross-sections on thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 with >8x expansion in thickness. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) on sloped cross sections showed reduction in grain boundaries potential deeper into the film. Cryo Fib-KPFM enabled the first determination of the electronic structure of the Mo/CIGSe back contact, where a sub 100 nm thick MoSey assists hole extraction due to 45 meV higher work function. This demonstrates that CryoFIB-KPFM combination can reveal new targets of opportunity for improvement in thin-films photovoltaics such as high-work-function contacts to facilitate hole extraction through the back interface of CIGS.",

keywords = "back contacts, CIGSe, Cryo-FIB, KPFM, thin-film photovoltaics",

author = "Miguel Contreras and Kasra Sardashti and Richard Haight and Ryan Anderson and Bernd Fruhberger and Andrew Kummel",

year = "2016",

doi = "10.1021/acsami.6b04214",

language = "American English",

volume = "8",

pages = "14994--14999",

journal = "ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces",

issn = "1944-8244",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "24",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Grazing Incidence Cross-Sectioning of Thin-Film Solar Cells via Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam: A Case Study on CIGSe

AU - Contreras, Miguel

AU - Sardashti, Kasra

AU - Haight, Richard

AU - Anderson, Ryan

AU - Fruhberger, Bernd

AU - Kummel, Andrew

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Cryogenic focused ion beam (Cryo-FIB) milling at near-grazing angles is employed to fabricate cross-sections on thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 with >8x expansion in thickness. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) on sloped cross sections showed reduction in grain boundaries potential deeper into the film. Cryo Fib-KPFM enabled the first determination of the electronic structure of the Mo/CIGSe back contact, where a sub 100 nm thick MoSey assists hole extraction due to 45 meV higher work function. This demonstrates that CryoFIB-KPFM combination can reveal new targets of opportunity for improvement in thin-films photovoltaics such as high-work-function contacts to facilitate hole extraction through the back interface of CIGS.

AB - Cryogenic focused ion beam (Cryo-FIB) milling at near-grazing angles is employed to fabricate cross-sections on thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 with >8x expansion in thickness. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) on sloped cross sections showed reduction in grain boundaries potential deeper into the film. Cryo Fib-KPFM enabled the first determination of the electronic structure of the Mo/CIGSe back contact, where a sub 100 nm thick MoSey assists hole extraction due to 45 meV higher work function. This demonstrates that CryoFIB-KPFM combination can reveal new targets of opportunity for improvement in thin-films photovoltaics such as high-work-function contacts to facilitate hole extraction through the back interface of CIGS.

KW - back contacts

KW - CIGSe

KW - Cryo-FIB

KW - KPFM

KW - thin-film photovoltaics

U2 - 10.1021/acsami.6b04214

DO - 10.1021/acsami.6b04214

M3 - Article

SN - 1944-8244

VL - 8

SP - 14994

EP - 14999

JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

IS - 24

ER -

Grazing Incidence Cross-Sectioning of Thin-Film Solar Cells via Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam: A Case Study on CIGSe

Abstract

NREL Publication Number

Keywords

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