Copper Indium Diselenide: Crystallography and Radiation Induced Dislocation Loops

J.A. Hinks (1) , S E Donnelly (1)

1 Materials and Physics Research Centre

Copper indium diselenide (CIS) is a prime candidate for the absorber layer in solar cells for use in extraterrestrial environments due to its good photovoltaic efficiency and ability to resist radiation damage. Whilst CIS-based devices have been tested extensively in the laboratory using electron and proton irradiation, there is still little understanding of the underlying mechanisms which give rise to its radiation hardness. In order to gain better insight into the response of CIS to displacing radiation, transmission electron microscope samples have been irradiated in situ with 400 keV Xe ions at the Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope facility at Argonne National Laboratory, USA. At room temperature, dislocation loops were observed to form and to grow with increasing fluence. These loops have been investigated using g.b techniques and inside/outside contrast analysis. They were found to reside on {112} planes and to be interstitial in nature. The Burgers vector has been calculated to be b = 1/6 <221>. The compositional content of these interstitial loops was found to be indistinguishable from the surrounding matrix within the sensitivity of the techniques used. To facilitate this work, experimental electron-diffraction zone-axis pattern maps were produced and these are also presented along with analysis of the [100] zone-axis pattern.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

J.A. Hinks, S E Donnelly. Copper Indium Diselenide: Crystallography and Radiation Induced Dislocation Loops. Philosophical Magazine, 2010, pp.1. ⟨10.1080/14786435.2010.525542⟩. ⟨hal-00642383⟩