Hr. Moutinho et al., STUDIES OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND NANOSTRUCTURE OF POLYCRYSTALLINE CDTE AND CUINSE2 USING ATOMIC-FORCE AND SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY, Progress in photovoltaics, 3(1), 1995, pp. 39-46
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
have been used to study the micro- and nanostructure of CdTe and CuInS
e2 thin films used for photovoltaic cells. Topographic images ape comp
arable with those reported previously using conventional scanning elec
tron microscopy (SEM)-to the limit spatial resolution of the SEM techn
ique. For higher magnifications, nanoscale structures and features hav
e been observed for the first time with, AFM and STM, and these observ
ations have implications for the suitability and preparation of these
semiconductors for high-efficiency solar cell realization.