X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study

doi:10.1107/S1600577516015721

Title: X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study

Abstract

The study of a multilayered and multicomponent system by spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence microscopy poses unique challenges in achieving accurate quantification of elemental distributions. This is particularly true for the quantification of materials with high X-ray attenuation coefficients, depth-dependent composition variations and thickness variations. A widely applicable procedure for use after spectrum fitting and quantification is described. This procedure corrects the elemental distribution from the measured fluorescence signal, taking into account attenuation of the incident beam and generated fluorescence from multiple layers, and accounts for sample thickness variations. Deriving from Beer–Lambert's law, formulae are presented in a general integral form and numerically applicable framework. Here, the procedure is applied using experimental data from a solar cell with a Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ absorber layer, measured at two separate synchrotron beamlines with varied measurement geometries. This example shows the importance of these corrections in real material systems, which can change the interpretation of the measured distributions dramatically.

Authors:

West, Bradley M. ^[1]; Stuckelberger, Michael ^[1]; Jeffries, April ^[1]; Gangam, Srikanth ^[1]; Lai, Barry ^[2]; Stripe, Benjamin ^[3]; Maser, Jorg ^[2]; Rose, Volker ^[2]; Vogt, Stefan ^[2]; Bertoni, Mariana I. ^[1]

Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); Sigray, Concord, CA (United States)

Publication Date:: 2017-01-01

Research Org.:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

OSTI Identifier:: 1371555

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online); Journal Volume: 24; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1600-5775

Publisher:: International Union of Crystallography

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; thin film characterization; X-ray fluorescence; CIGS; multilayered structure; solar cell

Citation Formats


                    West, Bradley M., Stuckelberger, Michael, Jeffries, April, Gangam, Srikanth, Lai, Barry, Stripe, Benjamin, Maser, Jorg, Rose, Volker, Vogt, Stefan, and Bertoni, Mariana I.. X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1107/S1600577516015721.

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                    West, Bradley M., Stuckelberger, Michael, Jeffries, April, Gangam, Srikanth, Lai, Barry, Stripe, Benjamin, Maser, Jorg, Rose, Volker, Vogt, Stefan, & Bertoni, Mariana I.. X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study.  United States.  doi:10.1107/S1600577516015721.

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                    West, Bradley M., Stuckelberger, Michael, Jeffries, April, Gangam, Srikanth, Lai, Barry, Stripe, Benjamin, Maser, Jorg, Rose, Volker, Vogt, Stefan, and Bertoni, Mariana I.. Sun .  
        "X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study".  United States.  doi:10.1107/S1600577516015721.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1371555.

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@article{osti_1371555,

  title        = {X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study},

  author       = {West, Bradley M. and Stuckelberger, Michael and Jeffries, April and Gangam, Srikanth and Lai, Barry and Stripe, Benjamin and Maser, Jorg and Rose, Volker and Vogt, Stefan and Bertoni, Mariana I.},

  abstractNote = {The study of a multilayered and multicomponent system by spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence microscopy poses unique challenges in achieving accurate quantification of elemental distributions. This is particularly true for the quantification of materials with high X-ray attenuation coefficients, depth-dependent composition variations and thickness variations. A widely applicable procedure for use after spectrum fitting and quantification is described. This procedure corrects the elemental distribution from the measured fluorescence signal, taking into account attenuation of the incident beam and generated fluorescence from multiple layers, and accounts for sample thickness variations. Deriving from Beer–Lambert's law, formulae are presented in a general integral form and numerically applicable framework. Here, the procedure is applied using experimental data from a solar cell with a Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layer, measured at two separate synchrotron beamlines with varied measurement geometries. This example shows the importance of these corrections in real material systems, which can change the interpretation of the measured distributions dramatically.},

  doi          = {10.1107/S1600577516015721},

  journal      = {Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online)},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 24,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {1}

}

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DOI: 10.1107/S1600577516015721

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Works referenced in this record:

Nanoscale X-ray imaging
journal, December 2010

Sakdinawat, Anne; Attwood, David
Nature Photonics, Vol. 4, Issue 12, p. 840-848
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.267

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Title: X-ray fluorescence at nanoscale resolution for multicomponent layered structures: A solar cell case study

Abstract

Citation Formats

Nanoscale X-ray imaging journal, December 2010

Nanoscale X-ray imaging
journal, December 2010