Objectif A study of physical mechanisms of the radiation hardness of Cu(InGa)Se2 (CIGS) is proposed. The main objectives are:To gain fundamental information on interaction of high-energy electrons and ions with Cu(InGa)Se2 (CIGS) in order to establish physics of the radiation defect formation and healing.To understand effects of radiation damage caused by electrons and ions on CIGS - based PV devices, to reveal particular defects involved in the degradation of solar-cell parameters, to gain insights into the origin of the extraordinary tolerance of the PV devices to radiation damage and to investigate possible methods of healing the solar cells after irradiation.To develop effective methods of control over radiation tolerance by "defect engineering", modifying the material by changing the elemental composition or/and co-doping it with foreign atomic species.To achieve these goals a diverse and complimentary set of analytical techniques for investigation of the structural, optical and electrical properties has to be used. The diversity will make the analysis more distinguished. The material under study has to be synthesized by the consortium because neither single crystalline nor thin film CIGS is available commercially. A number of ion- and electron-irradiation sessions have to be done. The number of atomic species to be implanted, their energy and dose range require the use of special nuclear physics facilities and also can not be done commercially. Therefore the consortium is combined of 8 scientific institutions which have the equipment and expertise to carry out all the research activities.The consortium will synthesize CIGS single crystals and thin films. Solar cells with the structure ZnO/CdS/CIGS/Mo/Glass and Schottky junctions will also be fabricated. The bare material and the photovoltaic devices will be irradiated with electrons and various ions with a wide range of doses and energies.The opto-electrical properties of the irradiated material will be studied at temperatures down to 5K using conventional techniques like: photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence excitation, photo-absorption, photo-reflection and temperature resolved Hall measurements. Besides this a novel infrared quasi-elastic electron/hole light scattering method will be used to measure the carrier concentration and diffusion parameters in a very wide range of carrier concentrations. This method does not require contact deposition and allows measuring through ZnO and CdS films and collecting information in very thin layers without interference of the non-irradiated bulk. Some photoluminescence experiments will be done using polarised light. Also some optical experiments will be done in situ with ion implantation at temperatures down to 10K to study the evolution of the radiation defects with the temperature rise. The fundamental electrical parameters will be measured for irradiated solar cells. Irradiated Schottky junctions will be studied using admittance spectroscopy and polarised photo- electrical spectroscopy.Changes in the defect densities and contribution of different electronic transitions to photosensitivity will be found.Changes in the structural parameters of the material after irradiation will be studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy/channeling (RBS) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. X-ray photoelectron diffraction spectroscopy (XPD) will also be used to study changes in the surface structure induced by irradiation. Some of the TEM experiments will be carried out in situ with high-energy ion implantation. Direct observation of the formation and healing of the defects is expected. Changes in the structural parameters will also be studied in solar cells measuring Raman spectra through ZnO/CdS layers.Effects of elemental composition on the radiation hardness will be studied for CIGS with different content of Ga and ratio of Cu/(In+Ga). Copper deficient compounds CuIn3Se5 and CuIn5Se8 will also be investigated. The elemental composition will be measured using a number of techniques: secondary ion mass spectroscopy, RBS, proton induced X-ray spectroscopy (PIX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger spectroscopy, and wavelength dispersive and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Effects on the radiation hardness of co-doping the material will be studied by introducing controlled amounts of Li or Na. To find out the diffusion parameters and lattice locations of Li and Na nuclear reaction analysis, PIX and XPD will be used. Thermal annealing will be used to study evolution of the primary defects and the formation of remnant defects. Irradiated solar cells will be annealed to find the regimes, which can recover the damage without degrading the performance. Non-equilibrium pulse annealing will also be studied.Theoretical groups of the consortium will develop models, which will help to improve quality of interpretation of the experimental data, calculate the electronic structure of the material with various defects and simulate the properties associated with electronic defects.The eight collaborating institutions will provide new and fundamental understanding of interaction of energetic ions and electrons with Cu(InGa)Se2 single crystals, thin films and PV devices. Radiation induced defects will be identified. This will help to clarify the role of the defects in the degradation of the electrical solar cell parameters. Methods of recovering of radiation damaged CIGS solar cells will be found. Possibilities of controlling the radiation hardness by changing the elemental composition or/and extrinsic co-doping will be explored.The obtained knowledge will help to understand physics of the material, to retain the property of high radiation tolerance in the future changes of the technology and give routes to engineer self-repairing materials for other applications. This will be achieved through an extensive coordinated experimental/theoretical study and unique expertise of the members of the consortium. Programme(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Thème(s) 1B - Condensed Matter, Optics and Plasma Physics OPEN - OPEN Call Appel à propositions Data not available Régime de financement Data not available Coordinateur Strathclyde University Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Rottenrow 107 G4 0NG Glasgow Royaume-Uni Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée Participants (7) Trier par ordre alphabétique Trier par contribution de l’UE Tout développer Tout réduire Belorus Academy of Science Biélorussie Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse P.Brovka 17 220072 Minsk Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University Russie Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Vorobievi Gori 119899 Moscow Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée Russian Academy of Sciences Russie Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Politekhnicheskaya 26 194021 St. Petersburg Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée University of Salford Royaume-Uni Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse The Crescent M5 4WT Manchester Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée Universität Stuttgart Allemagne Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Pfaffenwaldring 47 70569 Stuttgart Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Russie Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Kirova 132 426000 Izhevsk Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Russie Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Pervomayskaya 91 620219 Ekaterinburg Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée
