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Electron-Backscatter Diffraction of Photovoltaic Thin Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Helio Moutinho ,
Ramesh Dhere ,
Chun-Sheng Jiang ,
Bobby To  and
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Helio Moutinho
Affiliation:
helio_moutinho@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States, 303-384-6457, 303-384-6600
Ramesh Dhere
Affiliation:
ramesh_dhere@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Chun-Sheng Jiang
Affiliation:
chun_sheng_jiang@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Bobby To
Affiliation:
bobby_to@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Mowafak Al-Jassim
Affiliation:
mowafak_aljassim@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Measurements & Characterization, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
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Abstract

In electron-backscatter diffraction, crystalline orientation maps are formed while the electron beam of an SEM scans the sample surface. EBSD requires a flat sample to avoid shadowing of the electrons from the detector by surface features. In this work, we investigate the preparation of CdTe samples deposited by close-spaced sublimation for EBSD analysis. Untreated samples were rough, resulting in areas with no EBSD signal. We processed the samples by polishing and ion-beam milling. Polishing produced flat samples, but low-quality EBDS data, because the top surface of the samples had poor crystallinity. In contrast, ion-beam milling proved to be suitable for producing flat samples with minimal surface damage, yielding good EBSD data. We also analyzed the samples with atomic force microscopy, and correlated the quality of the EBSD data with sample roughness. The EBSD data showed that the CdTe films were randomly oriented and had columnar growth and a high density of <111> twin boundaries.

Keywords

crystallographic structureII-VIscanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1012: Symposium Y – Thin-Film Compound Semiconductor Photovoltaics-2007 , 2007 , 1012-Y12-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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