Electron backscatter diffraction: Exploring the microstructure in Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 and CdTe thin-film solar cells

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a scanning electron microscope provides access to grain-size and local-orientation distributions, film textures and grain-boundary types of thin-film solar cells. Since EBSD exhibits an information depth of only about 20 nm in Cu(In, Ga)(S, Se)₂ and CdTe thin films, the most important issue of the corresponding analyses is an appropriate preparation of layer or cross-section surfaces in order to reduce possible surface roughnesses to a minimum. When EBSD is combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements, compositional as well as electrical and optoelectronic material properties are obtained, complementarily to the microstructural information.