Radiation Tolerance and Ion Beam Microscopy of Photovoltaic Materials and Devices

Energetic ion beams have been used for materials analysis, modifications, and synthesis in various fields involving semiconductors, photovoltaics, and biomaterials. At the University of North Texas, Ion Beam Laboratory, we have several dedicated ion accelerator facilities providing proton and other heavy ion beams of energies from a few tens of kilo electron-volts (keV) to several Mega electron-volts (MeV) enabling targeted irradiation of various layers of the materials and device structures. We also have a novel and powerful scanning ion microprobe (~400 nm probing spot sizes) for elemental concentration, composition, and charge collection efficiency characterization in various stacks of devices. In this presentation, we will highlight our ability to carry out quantitative micro-analysis of a wide range of elements in PV devices and electronic materials utilizing several complementary ion beam analysis techniques. These characterization techniques are relatively non-destructive and require minimal sample preparations providing quantitative information about elemental diffusion due to the aging of the PV devices. A review of some of our works on ion irradiation-induced effects in various photovoltaic materials and devices will be described.