Measurement of the sodium concentration in CIGS solar cells via laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Jeremy M.D. Kowalczyk, Jeffrey Perkins, Jess Kaneshiro, Nicolas Gaillard, Yuancheng Chang, Alexander DeAngelis, Stewart A. Mallory, David Bates, Eric Miller

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The control of sodium in CIGS solar cells is critical to achieve high efficiency devices, but to date composition measurement techniques either cannot detect the subone atomic percent levels (for example, x-ray fluorescence (XRF)) or are expensive, time consuming, and destructive (examples include SIMS, XPS/ESCA). We employed an inexpensive, fast, and minimally destructive method to measure the concentration of sodium in CIGS solar cells fabricated at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI). Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used to determine the relative concentration of sodium. Two different analysis methods of the LIBS data were explored: the first assumes local thermal equilibrium (LTE) of the plasma and is calibration-free while the second employs comparison of relative peak heights after calibration to determine the concentration. Analysis is presented for solar cells produced on thin titanium foils where sodium fluoride is included in the deposition process to incorporate sodium into the CIGS layer.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProgram - 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2010
Pages1742-1744
Number of pages3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Event35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2010 - Honolulu, HI, United States
Duration: Jun 20 2010Jun 25 2010

Publication series

NameConference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
ISSN (Print)0160-8371

Conference

Conference35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu, HI
Period6/20/106/25/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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