Characterisation, Modelling and Design

Accurate and effective characterisation of device interfaces is essential for physcial understanding, structural design, and manufacturing process control. It ultimately impacts performance, particularly of devices where charge flow across interfaces strongly influences the operation as it is the case with current and future solar energy devices. This is especially important in optoelectronic devices. At the Interfaces Lab we aim to improve the current understanding and develop new techniques to characterise such interfaces. Currently, a large part of our work involves Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC), Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM), and Atom Probe Tomography (APT). We use the understanding from advanced characterisation to create better finite element models of device operation, and in such a way we contribute to the design of new cell architectures and solare energy systems.

 

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EBIC of a selective emitter in a silicon solar cell.