Synchrotron characterization
The aim is to gain a fundamental understanding of the atomic and chemical structures of thin-film solar cells, near interface regions, both ex situ and in situ under process conditions or outdoor-relevant environments and operating conditions, which is crucial for further optimisation and stabilisation of the solar cells.
Description
Development of cost-effective, high-efficiency solar cells depends on gaining understanding of the atomic and chemical structure and their surfaces/interfaces and how they change during fabrication processes or operation, which can limit their performance. This is important for further optimization and stabilization of the devices but, due to material complexity of multilayer thin film solar cells, the analysis cannot be done effectively using conventional methods. Synchrotron methods with elemental and chemical sensitivity are able to meet the characterization challenges in thin film solar cells, allowing for non-destructive depth profile and in situ analysis at realistic conditions.
Our aim is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the atomic and chemical structures in thin film solar cells, close to interfacial regions, both ex situ as well as in situ under processing conditions or outdoor relevant environments and operating conditions, which is crucial for further optimization and stabilization of the solar cells. For this purpose, we focus on materials characterization by employing synchrotron X-ray methods, in particular photoemission and absorption spectroscopies, which provide complementary information depths.
The measurements are performed at large scale synchrotron radiation facilities around the world such as MAX IV (@Lund/Sweden), SOLEIL (@Paris/France), Diamond (@Oxford/UK), Petra III (@Hamburg/Germany), APS (@Chicago/USA), etc. Such measurements could be of interest for other PV technologies or optoelectronic devices (LED, photodetectors, laser diodes etc.), where
interface properties are important.
Key features:
• Synchrotron X-rays may be used to study thin film solar cells at the atomic level under processing, or outdoor relevant environments and operating conditions.
• For example, X-ray Photoelectron and Absorption Spectroscopies (XPS and XAS)
allow obtaining complementary information on different depth scales
• Ex situ, in situ and operando characterization possible − explore composition profile, secondary phase formation, local atomic structure, chemical and electronic properties, dynamic processes, diffusion phenomena, reversible & non-reversible changes.
Contact: Natalia Martin
More on synchrotron characterisation
Want to learn more about synchrotron characterisation? Here you can find some examples of how synchrotron light can help study thin film solar cells.