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

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

doi:10.1107/S1600577516015721

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

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577516015721· OSTI ID:1371555

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)

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.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1371555

Journal Information:: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online), Vol. 24, Issue 1; ISSN 1600-5775

Publisher:: International Union of CrystallographyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 22 works

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

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