AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Energy Frontiers Focus Topic Wednesday Sessions
       Session EN1+TF-WeA

Paper EN1+TF-WeA1
Comparative Study of Structure and Morphology of CuIn1-xGaXS2 and CuIn1-xGaXSe2 Thin Film Absorbers Using EBSD

Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 2:00 pm, Room 103

Session: Thin Film Chalcogenide Solar Cells (CIGS, CZTS, CdTe and Related Materials)
Presenter: Ashwani Kaul, Florida Solar Energy Center
Authors: A. Kaul, Florida Solar Energy Center
E. Schneller, Florida Solar Energy Center
N.G. Dhere, Florida Solar Energy Center
H.R. Moutinho, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a powerful technique that allows crystallographic information such as the grain orientation, grain boundaries and also the grain size to be obtained. Crystalline maps are formed in EBSD while the electron beam of a SEM scans the sample surface providing information about crystalline orientation of individual grains as well as features such as twin boundaries. This study relates to EBSD investigation of CuIn1-xGaXSe2 (CIGSe) and CuIn1-xGaXS2 (CIGS2) samples that were prepared by a two stage process which is easily scalable to large area manufacturing. Since sample polishing is very critical for generation of very good quality Kikuchi pattern formed by back scattered electrons, the earlier work was focused on optimizing the sample polishing technique. Efforts were also made to develop a database to facilitate proper indexing and corresponding accurate determination of preferred orientation of the pseudo-quaternary compound absorber films. Eventually, high quality Kikuchi patterns and EBSD maps have been obtained. It is essential for the research and development of the chalcopyrite thin film absorbers to elucidate the effect of variation of processing conditions (temperature, time and composition) on the growth and development of microstructure. Therefore, in the current work, CIGSe and CIGS2 absorber films were synthesized under different processing conditions and their EBSD maps and patterns are being compared in terms of grains size, grain orientation and grain boundaries as a necessary and vital step prior to undertaking the study of the still more complex compound CuIn1-xGaXSe2-ySey (CIGSeS) being used in large-volume production of photovoltaic solar cells and modules.