In-situ X-ray diffraction annealing study of electroplated and sputtered Cu-In-Ga precursors for application to sequential Cu(In,Ga)Se2 processes

We study by in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) in a unique, custom-made furnace mimicking an industrial setup, the effect of pre-annealing on electroplated and sputtered thin films of Cu-In-Ga, as precursor material for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGS)-based solar cells. In the first part of the paper, the properties of the as-deposited precursors are...

Scalable Pulsed Laser Deposition of Transparent Rear Electrode for Perovskite Solar Cells

Sputtered transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are widely accepted transparent electrodes for several types of high-efficiency solar cells. However, the different sputtering yield of atoms makes stoichiometric transfer of target material challenging for multi-compounds. Additionally, the high kinetic energies of the arriving species may damage...

ITER visible spectroscopy reference system first mirror plasma cleaning in radio-frequency gas discharge – circuit design and plasma effects

The Visible Spectroscopy Reference System (VSRS.55.E6) is going to be one of the first optical diagnostics in the ITER tokamak chamber. For the VSRS diagnostic system, the 100 mm diameter first mirror (FM) located at the front end of the optical system is expected to experience contamination primarily with beryllium and tungsten. Small levels of...

Periodic density fluctuations in sputtered aluminum-doped silicon oxynitride layers

Magnetron sputtering is widely used for deposition of silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) coatings on glass in large-area applications. Since repeated deposition simulates the factory-scale in-line processing, amorphous aluminum-doped SiOxNy layers with thickness of about 250 nm were deposited by reactive pulsed DC sputtering in a multi-pass process...

UWAVS first mirror after long plasma cleaning: Surface properties and material re-deposition issues

One of the important aspects of the service life of the first and second optical mirrors (FM and SM) in ITER UWAVS diagnostics is to understand the influence of plasma cleaning on materials re-deposition and optical surface quality after multiple cleaning cycles. The capacitively coupled RF 30-60 MHz system is a candidate for the UWAVS mirror...

UWAVS first mirror plasma cleaning technology using 30–60 MHz RF discharges

In ITER, first mirrors for the Upper Wide Angle Viewing System (UWAVS) are expected to experience contamination with beryllium and tungsten. Contamination levels of 10 nm can degrade mirror performance. In the UWAVS, a first mirror cleaning system will use radio-frequency (RF) gas discharge. A mockup in representative geometry was developed. The...

Removing W-contaminants in helium and neon RF plasma to maintain the optical performance of the ITER UWAVS first mirror

First metallic mirrors used in optical diagnostics such as the Upper Wide Angle Viewing System (UWAVS) in ITER may undergo contamination with beryllium and tungsten. Contamination levels of 10 nm can significantly degrade mirror performance. A UWAVS first mirror cleaning system prototype uses radio-frequency (RF) gas discharge to remove...

Physical and chemical degradation behavior of sputtered aluminum doped zinc oxide layers for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Sputtered aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) layers on borosilicate glass were exposed to damp heat (85 C/85% relative humidity) for 2876 h to accelerate the physical and chemical degradation behavior. The ZnO:Al samples were characterized by electrical, compositional and optical measurements before and after degradation. Hall measurements show...

Molecular depth profiling of organic photovoltaic heterojunction layers by ToF-SIMS: Comparative evaluation of three sputtering beams

With the recent developments in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), it is now possible to obtain molecular depth profiles and 3D molecular images of organic thin films, i.e. SIMS depth profiles where the molecular information of the mass spectrum is retained through the sputtering of the sample. Several approaches have been proposed for ...

Quantitative comparison of adhesion in metal-to-plastic systems

A peel test device was used to monitor metal-polymer adhesion. This technique showed variations in the resulting force within 1%, and enabled the ranking of many systems. A change in the 50 nm-adhesion layer resulted in a variation of the fracture energy by a factor 2.3. A change of the substrate led to a change in adhesion by a factor 40. The...