Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity

Li, Chen; Poplawsky, Jonathan; Yan, Yanfa; Pennycook, Stephen J.

doi:10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017

Title: Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity

Abstract

Here in this paper we review a systematic study of the structure-property correlations of a series of defects in CdTe solar cells. A variety of experimental methods, including aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and electron-beam-induced current have been combined with density-functional theory. The research traces the connections between the structures and electrical activities of individual defects including intra-grain partial dislocations, grain boundaries and the CdTe/CdS interface. The interpretations of the physical origin underlying the structure-property correlation provide insights that should further the development of future CdTe solar cells.

Authors:

Li, Chen ^[1];

^[2]; Yan, Yanfa ^[3]; Pennycook, Stephen J. ^[4]

Univ. of Vienna (Austria). Dept. of Lithospheric Research
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Publication Date:: Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1393810

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1496415

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; FOA-0000492

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 65; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1369-8001

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 14 SOLAR ENERGY; CdTe solar cells; scanning transmission electron microscopy; dislocation; grain boundary; interface

Citation Formats


                    Li, Chen, Poplawsky, Jonathan, Yan, Yanfa, and Pennycook, Stephen J. Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017.

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                    Li, Chen, Poplawsky, Jonathan, Yan, Yanfa, & Pennycook, Stephen J. Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017

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                    Li, Chen, Poplawsky, Jonathan, Yan, Yanfa, and Pennycook, Stephen J. Sat .  
"Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1393810.

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@article{osti_1393810,

  title        = {Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity},

  author       = {Li, Chen and Poplawsky, Jonathan and Yan, Yanfa and Pennycook, Stephen J.},

  abstractNote = {Here in this paper we review a systematic study of the structure-property correlations of a series of defects in CdTe solar cells. A variety of experimental methods, including aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and electron-beam-induced current have been combined with density-functional theory. The research traces the connections between the structures and electrical activities of individual defects including intra-grain partial dislocations, grain boundaries and the CdTe/CdS interface. The interpretations of the physical origin underlying the structure-property correlation provide insights that should further the development of future CdTe solar cells.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017},

  journal      = {Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 65,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017},

  month        = {Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017}

}

Copy to clipboard

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2016.06.017

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Title: Understanding individual defects in CdTe thin-film solar cells via STEM: From atomic structure to electrical activity

Abstract

Citation Formats

From atomic structure to photovoltaic properties in CdTe solar cells journal, November 2013

Growth and properties of coherent twinning superlattice nanowires journal, January 2012

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Projector augmented-wave method journal, December 1994

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Direct Insight into Grain Boundary Reconstruction in Polycrystalline Cu ( In , Ga ) Se 2 with Atomic Resolution journal, February 2012

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Understanding the Beneficial Role of Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline Solar Cells from Single-Grain-Boundary Scanning Probe Microscopy journal, March 2006

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Structural and chemical interface characterization of CdTe solar cells by transmission electron microscopy journal, May 2003

The effects of CdCl 2 on the electronic properties of molecular‐beam epitaxially grown CdTe/CdS heterojunction solar cells journal, July 1991

Complex Nanotwin Substructure of an Asymmetric Σ 9 Tilt Grain Boundary in a Silicon Polycrystal journal, December 2015

Core Structures of Dislocations within CdTe Grains journal, January 2013

Effect of Copassivation of Cl and Cu on CdTe Grain Boundaries journal, October 2008

Numerical simulation of cross section electron-beam induced current in thin-film solar-cells for low and high injection conditions journal, October 2013

Direct Imaging of Cl- and Cu-Induced Short-Circuit Efficiency Changes in CdTe Solar Cells journal, May 2014

Effect of chlorine activation treatment on electron beam induced current signal distribution of cadmium telluride thin film solar cells journal, October 2013

Near-Unity Quantum Yields from Chloride Treated CdTe Colloidal Quantum Dots journal, October 2014

Determination of Polarization-Fields Across Polytype Interfaces in InAs Nanopillars journal, November 2013

Last Progress in CdTe/CdS Thin Film Solar Cell Fabrication Process journal, January 2014

Effects of CdCl2 treatment on the recrystallization and electro-optical properties of CdTe thin films journal, May 1998

Solar-energy conversion and light emission in an atomic monolayer p–n diode journal, March 2014

Interface and Composition Analysis on Perovskite Solar Cells journal, November 2015

Nanoscale doping profiles within CdTe grain boundaries and at the CdS/CdTe interface revealed by atom probe tomography and STEM EBIC journal, June 2016

Design of Epitaxial CdTe Solar Cells on InSb Substrates journal, November 2015

Crystal Phase Quantum Dots journal, April 2010

CdCl2 treatment, S diffusion, and recombination in polycrystalline CdTe journal, May 2006

Atomic-resolution characterization of the effects of CdCl 2 treatment on poly-crystalline CdTe thin films journal, August 2014

Understanding Individual Defects in CdTe Solar Cells: From Atomic Structure to Electrical Activity journal, August 2014

Why CuInGaSe2 and CdTe polycrystalline thin film solar cells are more efficient than the corresponding single crystal? journal, November 2005

Investigation of junction properties of CdS/CdTe solar cells and their correlation to device properties conference, May 2008

Direct Electronic Property Imaging of a Nanocrystal-Based Photovoltaic Device by Electron Beam-Induced Current via Scanning Electron Microscopy journal, February 2014

Photovoltaic Heterojunctions of Fullerenes with MoS 2 and WS 2 Monolayers journal, March 2014

Dynamic Fluctuations in Ultrasmall Nanocrystals Induce White Light Emission journal, May 2012

How Polycrystalline Devices Can Outperform Single-Crystal Ones: Thin Film CdTe/CdS Solar Cells journal, June 2004

A contactless method for measuring the recombination velocity of an individual grain boundary in thin-film photovoltaics journal, August 2010

Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal, July 1996

A New Silicon Drift Detector for High Spatial Resolution STEM-XEDS: Performance and Applications journal, July 2014

Grain-Boundary-Enhanced Carrier Collection in CdTe Solar Cells journal, April 2014

Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance of CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 Perovskite Solar Cells through Interfacial Engineering Using Self-Assembling Monolayer journal, February 2015

Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells journal, July 2013

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 47): Solar cell efficiency tables journal, November 2015

Vibrational spectroscopy in the electron microscope journal, October 2014

Bilayer Phosphorene: Effect of Stacking Order on Bandgap and Its Potential Applications in Thin-Film Solar Cells journal, March 2014

Extraordinary Sunlight Absorption and One Nanometer Thick Photovoltaics Using Two-Dimensional Monolayer Materials journal, July 2013

Nanoscale Imaging of Photocurrent and Efficiency in CdTe Solar Cells journal, October 2014

S–Te Interdiffusion within Grains and Grain Boundaries in CdTe Solar Cells journal, November 2014

The effect of the CdCl2 treatment on CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells studied using deep level transient spectroscopy journal, May 2003

Column-by-column observation of dislocation motion in CdTe: Dynamic scanning transmission electron microscopy journal, October 2016

Carrier Separation at Dislocation Pairs in CdTe journal, August 2013

Long-Range Balanced Electron- and Hole-Transport Lengths in Organic-Inorganic CH3NH3PbI3 journal, October 2013

Fully Printable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells with Organic Silane Self-Assembled Monolayer journal, January 2015

Thin-film polycrystalline Si solar cells on foreign substrates: film formation at intermediate temperatures (700–1300 °C) journal, August 2004

Efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by vapour deposition journal, September 2013

A low-cost non-toxic post-growth activation step for CdTe solar cells journal, June 2014

Monolayer MoS2 Heterojunction Solar Cells journal, July 2014

Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells journal, March 1961

Creating a single twin boundary between two CdTe (111) wafers with controlled rotation angle by wafer bonding journal, December 2013

Physics of grain boundaries in polycrystalline photovoltaic semiconductors journal, March 2015

Photovoltaic Effect in an Electrically Tunable van der Waals Heterojunction journal, July 2014

An electron microscope for the aberration-corrected era journal, February 2008

Local electrical characterization of cadmium telluride solar cells using low-energy electron beam journal, October 2013

Column-by-Column Imaging of Dislocation Slip Processes in CdTe journal, August 2014

Progress towards a CdS/CdTe solar cell implementing An Electron Reflector conference, June 2013

In-depth analysis of chloride treatments for thin-film CdTe solar cells journal, October 2016

Optical probing of extended defects in CdTe virtual substrates via isolated emitters produced by weakly perturbed fragments of partial dislocations journal, December 2019

Elucidating the Mechanism of an RbF Post Deposition Treatment in CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells journal, July 2018

Structure evolution of h.c.p./c.c.p. metal oxide interfaces in solid-state reactions journal, August 2018

Structure evolution of hcp/ccp metal oxide interfaces in solid-state reactions text, January 2018

Materials Structure, Properties and Dynamics through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy text, January 2019

Materials Structure, Properties and Dynamics through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy text, January 2019

Material structure, properties, and dynamics through scanning transmission electron microscopy journal, April 2018

From atomic structure to photovoltaic properties in CdTe solar cells
journal, November 2013

Growth and properties of coherent twinning superlattice nanowires
journal, January 2012

Towards sub-Å electron beams
journal, June 1999

Projector augmented-wave method
journal, December 1994

Defects
book, January 2003

Direct Insight into Grain Boundary Reconstruction in Polycrystalline $Cu (In, Ga) {Se}_{2}$ with Atomic Resolution
journal, February 2012

Twin-induced one-dimensional homojunctions yield high quantum efficiency for solar hydrogen generation
journal, September 2013

Understanding the Beneficial Role of Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline Solar Cells from Single-Grain-Boundary Scanning Probe Microscopy
journal, March 2006

Phase behavior in the CdTe–CdS pseudobinary system
journal, July 2002

Structural and chemical interface characterization of CdTe solar cells by transmission electron microscopy
journal, May 2003

The effects of CdCl ₂ on the electronic properties of molecular‐beam epitaxially grown CdTe/CdS heterojunction solar cells
journal, July 1991

Complex Nanotwin Substructure of an Asymmetric $Σ 9$ Tilt Grain Boundary in a Silicon Polycrystal
journal, December 2015

Core Structures of Dislocations within CdTe Grains
journal, January 2013

Effect of Copassivation of Cl and Cu on CdTe Grain Boundaries
journal, October 2008

Numerical simulation of cross section electron-beam induced current in thin-film solar-cells for low and high injection conditions
journal, October 2013

Direct Imaging of Cl- and Cu-Induced Short-Circuit Efficiency Changes in CdTe Solar Cells
journal, May 2014

Effect of chlorine activation treatment on electron beam induced current signal distribution of cadmium telluride thin film solar cells
journal, October 2013

Near-Unity Quantum Yields from Chloride Treated CdTe Colloidal Quantum Dots
journal, October 2014

Determination of Polarization-Fields Across Polytype Interfaces in InAs Nanopillars
journal, November 2013

Last Progress in CdTe/CdS Thin Film Solar Cell Fabrication Process
journal, January 2014

Effects of CdCl2 treatment on the recrystallization and electro-optical properties of CdTe thin films
journal, May 1998

Solar-energy conversion and light emission in an atomic monolayer p–n diode
journal, March 2014

Interface and Composition Analysis on Perovskite Solar Cells
journal, November 2015

Nanoscale doping profiles within CdTe grain boundaries and at the CdS/CdTe interface revealed by atom probe tomography and STEM EBIC
journal, June 2016

Design of Epitaxial CdTe Solar Cells on InSb Substrates
journal, November 2015

Crystal Phase Quantum Dots
journal, April 2010

CdCl2 treatment, S diffusion, and recombination in polycrystalline CdTe
journal, May 2006

Atomic-resolution characterization of the effects of CdCl ₂ treatment on poly-crystalline CdTe thin films
journal, August 2014

Understanding Individual Defects in CdTe Solar Cells: From Atomic Structure to Electrical Activity
journal, August 2014

Why CuInGaSe2 and CdTe polycrystalline thin film solar cells are more efficient than the corresponding single crystal?
journal, November 2005

Investigation of junction properties of CdS/CdTe solar cells and their correlation to device properties
conference, May 2008

Direct Electronic Property Imaging of a Nanocrystal-Based Photovoltaic Device by Electron Beam-Induced Current via Scanning Electron Microscopy
journal, February 2014

Photovoltaic Heterojunctions of Fullerenes with MoS ₂ and WS ₂ Monolayers
journal, March 2014

Dynamic Fluctuations in Ultrasmall Nanocrystals Induce White Light Emission
journal, May 2012

How Polycrystalline Devices Can Outperform Single-Crystal Ones: Thin Film CdTe/CdS Solar Cells
journal, June 2004

A contactless method for measuring the recombination velocity of an individual grain boundary in thin-film photovoltaics
journal, August 2010

Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set
journal, July 1996

A New Silicon Drift Detector for High Spatial Resolution STEM-XEDS: Performance and Applications
journal, July 2014

Grain-Boundary-Enhanced Carrier Collection in CdTe Solar Cells
journal, April 2014

Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance of CH ₃ NH ₃ PbI ₃ Perovskite Solar Cells through Interfacial Engineering Using Self-Assembling Monolayer
journal, February 2015

Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells
journal, July 2013

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 47): Solar cell efficiency tables
journal, November 2015

Vibrational spectroscopy in the electron microscope
journal, October 2014

Bilayer Phosphorene: Effect of Stacking Order on Bandgap and Its Potential Applications in Thin-Film Solar Cells
journal, March 2014

Extraordinary Sunlight Absorption and One Nanometer Thick Photovoltaics Using Two-Dimensional Monolayer Materials
journal, July 2013

Nanoscale Imaging of Photocurrent and Efficiency in CdTe Solar Cells
journal, October 2014

S–Te Interdiffusion within Grains and Grain Boundaries in CdTe Solar Cells
journal, November 2014

The effect of the CdCl2 treatment on CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells studied using deep level transient spectroscopy
journal, May 2003

Column-by-column observation of dislocation motion in CdTe: Dynamic scanning transmission electron microscopy
journal, October 2016

Carrier Separation at Dislocation Pairs in CdTe
journal, August 2013

Long-Range Balanced Electron- and Hole-Transport Lengths in Organic-Inorganic CH₃NH₃PbI₃
journal, October 2013

Fully Printable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells with Organic Silane Self-Assembled Monolayer
journal, January 2015

Thin-film polycrystalline Si solar cells on foreign substrates: film formation at intermediate temperatures (700–1300 °C)
journal, August 2004

Efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by vapour deposition
journal, September 2013

A low-cost non-toxic post-growth activation step for CdTe solar cells
journal, June 2014

Monolayer MoS₂ Heterojunction Solar Cells
journal, July 2014

Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells
journal, March 1961

Creating a single twin boundary between two CdTe (111) wafers with controlled rotation angle by wafer bonding
journal, December 2013

Physics of grain boundaries in polycrystalline photovoltaic semiconductors
journal, March 2015

Photovoltaic Effect in an Electrically Tunable van der Waals Heterojunction
journal, July 2014

An electron microscope for the aberration-corrected era
journal, February 2008

Local electrical characterization of cadmium telluride solar cells using low-energy electron beam
journal, October 2013

Column-by-Column Imaging of Dislocation Slip Processes in CdTe
journal, August 2014

Progress towards a CdS/CdTe solar cell implementing An Electron Reflector
conference, June 2013

In-depth analysis of chloride treatments for thin-film CdTe solar cells
journal, October 2016

Optical probing of extended defects in CdTe virtual substrates via isolated emitters produced by weakly perturbed fragments of partial dislocations
journal, December 2019

Elucidating the Mechanism of an RbF Post Deposition Treatment in CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells
journal, July 2018

Structure evolution of h.c.p./c.c.p. metal oxide interfaces in solid-state reactions
journal, August 2018

Structure evolution of hcp/ccp metal oxide interfaces in solid-state reactions
text, January 2018

Materials Structure, Properties and Dynamics through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy
text, January 2019

Materials Structure, Properties and Dynamics through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy
text, January 2019

Material structure, properties, and dynamics through scanning transmission electron microscopy
journal, April 2018