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Title: Strain Mapping of CdTe Grains in Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

Strain within grains and at grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline thin-film absorber layers limits the overall performance because of higher defect concentrations and band fluctuations. Yet, the nanoscale strain distribution in operational devices is not easily accessible using standard methods. X-ray nanodiffraction offers the unique possibility to evaluate the strain or lattice spacing at nanoscale resolution. Moreover, the combination of nanodiffraction with additional techniques in the framework of multimodal scanning X-ray microscopy enables the direct correlation of the strain with material and device parameters such as the elemental distribution or local performance. This method is applied for the investigation of the strain distribution in CdTe grains in fully operational photovoltaic solar cells. It is found that the lattice spacing in the (111) direction remains fairly constant in the grain cores but systematically decreases at the GBs. The lower strain at GBs is accompanied by an increase of the total tilt. These observations are both compatible with the inhomogeneous incorporation of smaller atoms into the lattice, and local stress induced by neighboring grains.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [1]; ORCiD logo [6]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  4. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)
  6. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division
OSTI Identifier:
1570961
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1571412; OSTI ID: 1592406; OSTI ID: 1596186
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-74886; BNL-212222-2019-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308; EE0008163; SC0012704; AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEE
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; CdTe; multimodal; nanodiffraction; photovoltaic; solar cells; strain; X-ray; X-ray beam induced current (XBIC); X-ray diffraction (XRD); X-ray fluorescence (XRF); X-ray microscopy; X-ray beam induced current; XBIC; XRD; XRF; multi-modal

Citation Formats

Calvo-Almazan, Irene, Ulvestad, Andrew P., Colegrove, Eric, Ablekim, Tursun, Holt, Martin V., Hill, Megan O., Maddali, Siddharth, Lauhon, Lincoln J., Bertoni, Mariana I., Huang, Xiaojing, Yan, Hanfei, Nazaretski, Evgeny, Chu, Yong S., Hruszkewycz, Stephan O., and Stuckelberger, Michael Elias. Strain Mapping of CdTe Grains in Photovoltaic Devices. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2942487.
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Calvo-Almazan, Irene, Ulvestad, Andrew P., Colegrove, Eric, Ablekim, Tursun, Holt, Martin V., Hill, Megan O., Maddali, Siddharth, Lauhon, Lincoln J., Bertoni, Mariana I., Huang, Xiaojing, Yan, Hanfei, Nazaretski, Evgeny, Chu, Yong S., Hruszkewycz, Stephan O., & Stuckelberger, Michael Elias. Strain Mapping of CdTe Grains in Photovoltaic Devices. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2942487
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Calvo-Almazan, Irene, Ulvestad, Andrew P., Colegrove, Eric, Ablekim, Tursun, Holt, Martin V., Hill, Megan O., Maddali, Siddharth, Lauhon, Lincoln J., Bertoni, Mariana I., Huang, Xiaojing, Yan, Hanfei, Nazaretski, Evgeny, Chu, Yong S., Hruszkewycz, Stephan O., and Stuckelberger, Michael Elias. Tue . "Strain Mapping of CdTe Grains in Photovoltaic Devices". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2942487. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570961.
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@article{osti_1570961,
title = {Strain Mapping of CdTe Grains in Photovoltaic Devices},
author = {Calvo-Almazan, Irene and Ulvestad, Andrew P. and Colegrove, Eric and Ablekim, Tursun and Holt, Martin V. and Hill, Megan O. and Maddali, Siddharth and Lauhon, Lincoln J. and Bertoni, Mariana I. and Huang, Xiaojing and Yan, Hanfei and Nazaretski, Evgeny and Chu, Yong S. and Hruszkewycz, Stephan O. and Stuckelberger, Michael Elias},
abstractNote = {Strain within grains and at grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline thin-film absorber layers limits the overall performance because of higher defect concentrations and band fluctuations. Yet, the nanoscale strain distribution in operational devices is not easily accessible using standard methods. X-ray nanodiffraction offers the unique possibility to evaluate the strain or lattice spacing at nanoscale resolution. Moreover, the combination of nanodiffraction with additional techniques in the framework of multimodal scanning X-ray microscopy enables the direct correlation of the strain with material and device parameters such as the elemental distribution or local performance. This method is applied for the investigation of the strain distribution in CdTe grains in fully operational photovoltaic solar cells. It is found that the lattice spacing in the (111) direction remains fairly constant in the grain cores but systematically decreases at the GBs. The lower strain at GBs is accompanied by an increase of the total tilt. These observations are both compatible with the inhomogeneous incorporation of smaller atoms into the lattice, and local stress induced by neighboring grains.},
doi = {10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2942487},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},
number = 6,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2942487
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Defect activation and annihilation in CIGS solar cells: an operando X-ray microscopy study
text, January 2020

  • Stuckelberger, Michael E.; Nietzold, Tara; West, Bradley
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2019-03853

Defect activation and annihilation in CIGS solar cells: an operando x-ray microscopy study
journal, February 2020

  • Stuckelberger, Michael E.; Nietzold, Tara; West, Bradley
  • Journal of Physics: Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1088/2515-7655/ab5fa6
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