Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers

Daniel Abou-Ras; Jiro Nishinaga; Takeyoshi Sugaya; Yukiko Kamikawa-Shimizu; Ulrike Bloeck; Henrik Prell; Sinju Thomas; Michael Tovar; Dan Wargulski; Harvey Guthrey; Pat Trimby; Aimo Winkelmann; Shogo Ishizuka

doi:10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers

Daniel Abou-Ras, Jiro Nishinaga, Takeyoshi Sugaya, Yukiko Kamikawa-Shimizu, Ulrike Bloeck, Henrik Prell, Sinju Thomas, Michael Tovar, Dan Wargulski, Harvey Guthrey, Pat Trimby, Aimo Winkelmann, Shogo Ishizuka

Materials Science

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

Abstract

Epitaxially grown Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorber layers were analyzed by various techniques in scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal microstructure-property relationships in these thin films. Owing to their epitaxial nature, these CIGS absorber layers do not contain any grain boundaries, but only anti-phase domains (APDs) and dislocations. By combining electron channeling-contrast imaging, electron backscatter diffraction, and cathodoluminescence (CL), in some cases on identical specimen positions of polished cross-sections of CIGS/Mo/glass stacks, it was possible to correlate the presence and orientations of APDs and dislocations with the lateral distributions of the CL intensity and emission-peak energy. We studied CIGS layers with three different [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratios as well as with and without NaF/KF treatments. Considerable differences between the CIGS layer properties in the microstructure-property relationships were found, depending on the growth parameters. Dislocations in the epitaxial CIGS layers do not tend to exhibit strong CL intensity decreases, which contrasts with the situation in numerous other semiconductor materials.

Original language	American English
Number of pages	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864
State	Published - 2023
Event	2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) - San Juan, Puerto Rico Duration: 11 Jun 2023 → 16 Jun 2023

Conference

Conference	2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
City	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Period	11/06/23 → 16/06/23

NREL Publication Number

NREL/CP-5K00-88825

Keywords

anti-phase domains
cathodoluminescence
dislocations
electron backscatter diffraction
electron channeling-contrast imaging
epitaxial

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10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

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Abou-Ras, D., Nishinaga, J., Sugaya, T., Kamikawa-Shimizu, Y., Bloeck, U., Prell, H., Thomas, S., Tovar, M., Wargulski, D., Guthrey, H., Trimby, P., Winkelmann, A., & Ishizuka, S. (2023). Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers. Paper presented at 2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), San Juan, Puerto Rico. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

@conference{91234e35f35945369a6f25b33e926c53,

title = "Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers",

abstract = "Epitaxially grown Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorber layers were analyzed by various techniques in scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal microstructure-property relationships in these thin films. Owing to their epitaxial nature, these CIGS absorber layers do not contain any grain boundaries, but only anti-phase domains (APDs) and dislocations. By combining electron channeling-contrast imaging, electron backscatter diffraction, and cathodoluminescence (CL), in some cases on identical specimen positions of polished cross-sections of CIGS/Mo/glass stacks, it was possible to correlate the presence and orientations of APDs and dislocations with the lateral distributions of the CL intensity and emission-peak energy. We studied CIGS layers with three different [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratios as well as with and without NaF/KF treatments. Considerable differences between the CIGS layer properties in the microstructure-property relationships were found, depending on the growth parameters. Dislocations in the epitaxial CIGS layers do not tend to exhibit strong CL intensity decreases, which contrasts with the situation in numerous other semiconductor materials.",

keywords = "anti-phase domains, cathodoluminescence, dislocations, electron backscatter diffraction, electron channeling-contrast imaging, epitaxial",

author = "Daniel Abou-Ras and Jiro Nishinaga and Takeyoshi Sugaya and Yukiko Kamikawa-Shimizu and Ulrike Bloeck and Henrik Prell and Sinju Thomas and Michael Tovar and Dan Wargulski and Harvey Guthrey and Pat Trimby and Aimo Winkelmann and Shogo Ishizuka",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864",

language = "American English",

note = "2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) ; Conference date: 11-06-2023 Through 16-06-2023",

}

Abou-Ras, D, Nishinaga, J, Sugaya, T, Kamikawa-Shimizu, Y, Bloeck, U, Prell, H, Thomas, S, Tovar, M, Wargulski, D, Guthrey, H, Trimby, P, Winkelmann, A & Ishizuka, S 2023, 'Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers', Paper presented at 2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 11/06/23 - 16/06/23. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

TY - CONF

T1 - Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers

AU - Abou-Ras, Daniel

AU - Nishinaga, Jiro

AU - Sugaya, Takeyoshi

AU - Kamikawa-Shimizu, Yukiko

AU - Bloeck, Ulrike

AU - Prell, Henrik

AU - Thomas, Sinju

AU - Tovar, Michael

AU - Wargulski, Dan

AU - Guthrey, Harvey

AU - Trimby, Pat

AU - Winkelmann, Aimo

AU - Ishizuka, Shogo

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Epitaxially grown Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorber layers were analyzed by various techniques in scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal microstructure-property relationships in these thin films. Owing to their epitaxial nature, these CIGS absorber layers do not contain any grain boundaries, but only anti-phase domains (APDs) and dislocations. By combining electron channeling-contrast imaging, electron backscatter diffraction, and cathodoluminescence (CL), in some cases on identical specimen positions of polished cross-sections of CIGS/Mo/glass stacks, it was possible to correlate the presence and orientations of APDs and dislocations with the lateral distributions of the CL intensity and emission-peak energy. We studied CIGS layers with three different [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratios as well as with and without NaF/KF treatments. Considerable differences between the CIGS layer properties in the microstructure-property relationships were found, depending on the growth parameters. Dislocations in the epitaxial CIGS layers do not tend to exhibit strong CL intensity decreases, which contrasts with the situation in numerous other semiconductor materials.

AB - Epitaxially grown Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) absorber layers were analyzed by various techniques in scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal microstructure-property relationships in these thin films. Owing to their epitaxial nature, these CIGS absorber layers do not contain any grain boundaries, but only anti-phase domains (APDs) and dislocations. By combining electron channeling-contrast imaging, electron backscatter diffraction, and cathodoluminescence (CL), in some cases on identical specimen positions of polished cross-sections of CIGS/Mo/glass stacks, it was possible to correlate the presence and orientations of APDs and dislocations with the lateral distributions of the CL intensity and emission-peak energy. We studied CIGS layers with three different [Ga]/([Ga]+[In]) ratios as well as with and without NaF/KF treatments. Considerable differences between the CIGS layer properties in the microstructure-property relationships were found, depending on the growth parameters. Dislocations in the epitaxial CIGS layers do not tend to exhibit strong CL intensity decreases, which contrasts with the situation in numerous other semiconductor materials.

KW - anti-phase domains

KW - cathodoluminescence

KW - dislocations

KW - electron backscatter diffraction

KW - electron channeling-contrast imaging

KW - epitaxial

U2 - 10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

DO - 10.1109/PVSC48320.2023.10359864

M3 - Paper

T2 - 2023 IEEE 50th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

Y2 - 11 June 2023 through 16 June 2023

ER -

Microstructure-Property Relationships in Epitaxial Cu(In, Ga)Se2 Solar-Cell Absorbers

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Keywords

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