Blistering+of+magnetron+sputtered+thin+film+CdTe+devices.pdf (1.18 MB)
Blistering of magnetron sputtered thin film CdTe devices
conference contribution
posted on 2017-11-16, 10:14 authored by Piotr M. Kaminski, Sibel Yilmaz, Ali AbbasAli Abbas, Francesco Bittau, Jake BowersJake Bowers, Rachael Greenhalgh, Michael WallsMichael WallsMagnetron sputtering is an industrially scalable technique for thin film deposition. It provides excellent coating uniformity and the deposition can be conducted at relatively low substrate temperatures. It is widely used in the manufacture of solar modules. However, its use for the deposition of thin film CdTe devices results in unusual problems. Blisters appear on the surface of the device and voids occur in the CdTe absorber. These problems appear after the cadmium chloride activation treatment. The voids often occur at the CdS/CdTe interface causing catastrophic delamination. This problem has been known for more than 25 years, but the mechanisms leading to blistering have not been understood. Using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy we have discovered that during the activation process, argon trapped during the sputtering process diffuses in the lattice to form gas bubbles. The gas bubbles grow by agglomeration particularly at grain boundaries and at interfaces. The growth of the bubbles eventually leads to void formation and blistering.
Funding
The authors are grateful to UKERC for funding this work through the EPSRC grant (EP/N508433/1).
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Published in
44th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference (PVSC)Citation
KAMINSKI, P.M. ... et al, 2017. Blistering of magnetron sputtered thin film CdTe devices. Presented at the 2017 44th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference (PVSC), Washington, DC, USA, 25th-30th June 2017, pp. 3430 - 3434.Publisher
IEEEVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Acceptance date
2017-06-25Publication date
2017Notes
Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.ISBN
9781509056057Publisher version
Language
- en