scieee Science in your language
[en] (orig)
Fa br ic ati on an d ch ar act er iza tio n o f n an ot ex tur e s
for li gh t m a na ge me nt in p hot ov olt ai c and
op to ele ctr on ic de vic es

vorgelegt von
univ. dipl . in ž . el .
Marko Jo š t
g eb . in C elje, Slowenien

von der Fakul tät IV – Elekt rotechnik und Inform atik
d er Techni s chen U n iversität B erlin
zur Erlangung des akademisch en Grade s

Dr. der I ngenieurw issenschaften
-Dr. Ing. -

genehmigte D issertation

Promotionsau sschuss:
Vorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Janez Krč , Univ ers ity of Ljub ljana
Gutacht er: Prof. Dr. B ernd R e c h, T echnische Univer s ität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Bernd Szyszka, Technische Universität B erlin
Prof. Dr. M arko Topič , Universit y of Ljub ljana
Prof. Dr. Janez Trontelj, Univer s ity of Lju bljana
Tag der wissen schaftlichen Au ssprache: 21 . Juni 2 017

Berlin, 201 7

i
Z ah val a/A c kno w le dge me nt
Iskreno se zahvaljujem sv ojemu mentorju pro f. d r. M ar ku To piču

za sprejem v
LPVO in ment orstvo med doktor skim izobra že va njem. B rez nje govih izkušenj , vodstva
in pregleda n ad po dročjem bi razi skovalni rezultat i in doktorska naloga ne bili v takšni
obliki kot so. P oleg š tev ilnih nasvet o v in obilice pomoči sem še po s ebej hv aležen za
možnost raz iskovanja v B erlinu in o mogočen dokt orat na Tehnični un iverzi v Berlinu .
Zahval il bi se tud i pr of. dr . J ane zu Kr ču za uvod v področje upravljanja s sv etlobo
ter nasvete , ideje in pomoč pri s istem ih za merjenje s ipane s vetl obe.
So del avc em LP VO se zahvaljujem za prijetno delovno okol je, pom oč pri
raziskovanju in št evilne zanimive debate ob jut ranji kavi. V s ak nasvet in ideja sta prišl a
še kako prav pri r aziskovanju.
I grateful ly acknowledge Pro f. D r. Be rnd Re ch

for accepting me at Insti tute for
Silicon Photovol taics, Hel mholtz-Zentrum B erl in, Germany and s upervi s ion at Technical
University Berlin. I thank Dr . S teve Albr ech t for his mentorship and introduction into
the world of perovskites during my stay in Berlin. I also thank m em bers at I n s tit ute for
Silicon P hot ovoltaics, Helmholt z -Zentru m B erl in f or warm hospital ity and help with my
research, especiall y Lu kas , M ori tz , Pa ul, Ste ffen

and

O leksa nd ra

for a fri endly and relax ed
working env ironment.
I acknowl edge Dr . Iva n Go rd on and Chr isto s Tro m pouk is for providing t he silicon
master with inverted pyramid s and Pr of. Dr . Ch ris toph e Ball if and Etie nne Mo ulin for
providing the TCO samples. I thank Dr. H ana Uršič N em evš ek and Pr of. Dr . Bar bara
Ma lič from K5 departme nt at I n s tit ute Jozef Stefan for u s ing their AFM .
Posebna zahvala gre tudi m oji m staršem in bratu, ki s o mi v vseh letih
izobraževanja nudili podpor o, vz podbudo in števil ne nasvete.
Za finan čno podporo se zahvalju jem Jav ni ag enc iji za r azisk ova lno d eja vno st
Re pu b like Sl oven ije ter Ja vn em u s klad u Re pub like Sl oven ije za ra zvoj ka dro v in šti pend ije .

iii
A bstr act
Light manage me nt is an import ant aspect of photov oltaics to assure eff ic ient
exploit ation of s olar ene rgy and improv e the efficie n cy of s olar cells. Efficient light
management is based on anti-refl ec tion and light sc att ering. T he form er res ul ts in
increased light in-couplin g, a nd t he lat ter pr olongs the optical path in t he active layer of
a s olar cel l; consequentl y , the conver s ion efficiency increa s es. Both effect s are usuall y
induced by text ured surfaces, either within the dev ic e structure or on top of the device.
In the do c toral dissertation, w e focu s on fabri cation and characteriz ation of text ured light
management l ayers . The created light ma nag em e nt (LM) foil is then appl ied on top of
perovskite s olar cel ls to enh ance the perofromance and analy ze the improvements in th e
fabricated devi ces.
The Ult ra- Viol et Nanoimprint Lithography (UV NIL) is used t o create the textured
LM foils. I t is a novel approach for repl icating text ured surface s . T he process is cost-
effective, s impl e and faste r c o mpared to other textur iz ation technique s. In the repl ication
process, the textur e surfa c e from the master is t ransferred to the replica wit h t he hel p of
the intermediate s ta mp and the U V sensitive lacq uers coated on the substrates. We
present the replication process and thoroughly charact erize the created r eplicas using
surface morpholog y an d tran smittance measurement s. Good tran s fer fidelity and
moderate therm al stabilit y up to 200 °C were obtained. Dur ing the ther mal stability test
the s ample s t hat w ere ex posed to high temperat ure (20 0 °C) fo r a longer time (>30 mi n)
turned slightly yellow . The yell owing effect resul t ed in diminished total and diffuse
transmittance of light for the wavelengt hs below 500 nm. Simil ar effect is also observed
during the outdoor testing where different configur ations wer e tested , s o me s ampl es were
placed on a white and some on a b lack s urfa ce . After three-month exposure to out door
environmental conditions the sampl es turned yel low. Samples on black surface heat ed
more and the yellowing effect was severer than for the samples on white surface.
Additionall y, the lacquer s light ly melt ed w hic h is confirmed b y low er
σ
RMS val ues . This
shows that replication lac quers with more stable chemical composition are n eeded for use
in real outdoor applications. If the LM foil is used inside the device, an additional

iv
Abstract

conductive layer of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) has to be de posited on top of
the LM foil to form elect ric al conta ct a s the U V NIL lacquer s are non -c on ductive. I n our
case, a gallium doped IT O (GIT O) is used as a TCO. The succ ess ful ness of the deposit ion
is confirmed b y sheet resis tan ce, optical (transmission) and surfac e morphology
measurement s.
To fulfill their role, th e created repl icas s houl d pre s erve the light s cat tering
properties of the master. For t he light scatt ering characterization , a novel camera -based
system is developed. I t enables mea s urement s of the spatial angular distribution function
(3D ADF) of scattered or emitted light using a digital c a me ra . 3D ADF is determined
from t he digit al image captured from a flat screen. We present t wo solut ions. The first
uses a reflective s creen and a len s to broaden the angular range . T he second uses a
transmissive screen po s iti oned at 45 °, enabling measurement s of all the polar angles . With
the developed c amera-b as ed systems we can quant ify transmitted or reflected light
scattered by tex tured s ampl es or emitted light from light source s in a few seconds. In the
dissertation , both setups are described, and main transform ations of the acq uired di gital
image to obtain the 3 D ADF are explained. The systems are validated on randomly
nanotext ured transparent samples and a periodi cally textur ed non-transparent s a mple.
Good matching is obtain ed with rigorous simul ations , and measurement results carried
out with the convention al goniometric angular resolved scattering s yste m. The sys te m
with the t ransmissive screen is u s ed t o c hara cterize the creat ed replicas.
To test the functionality of the created LM foils in a real application , inorganic -
organic p erovskites that have proven to be an eff ective c lass of material s for fa br ic ating
efficient solar cell s are u sed. W e a pply an LM foil cre ated b y UV NIL on the glass side
of an inverted (p-i-n) perov s kite s olar cell with 16.3% efficiency. The obtained 1 mA cm - 2
increase in the short-circuit current density translat es t o a relat ive improv em ent of 5%
in cell performance, which results in a power conversi on efficien cy of 17.1% . To support
the experimental findings, o ptical 3D simulat ions based on experiment ally obtained
parameter s are used. A good match between the s imulat ed and experim ental data is
obtained, validating the model. Optical simulations reveal that the main improvement
in d evice performan ce is due to a reduction i n tot al ref lection and that rel ative
improvement in the short-circuit current of up to 10% is poss ible for large-area devices.
Th e optical model is al s o u sed to analyze the pot ential of monolithic perov skite/silicon-
heterojunct ion tandem device s that can theoretical ly overcome the efficiencies of the
single junction solar c ell s. We consider four diff erent device designs in the optical

Abstract
v

simulat ions : the planar device, the device built on back- and both-side textured Si wafer ,
and t he device with the text ured LM foil . For each of the s e four designs, the curr ent
matching point is simulated to evaluate device eff ic iencie s. The result s reveal that t he
device built on a both-side textur ed sil ic on w afer , which is the best performing
configuration , can reach 15% relative higher effi ciency than pl anar device. The obt ained
results show the potential of LM foils for improving the device performance of perovskite
solar cell s and pave the way for further use of optical simulations in perovskite s ingle
junction or tande m solar cell s .

vii
Ra z širj en i p ov zet e k
Uv od

Za zmanj š evanj e onesnaževanja okolja in om ejitev gl obalnega segrevanja p ostajajo
obnovl jivi viri en ergije vedno pomembnej ši. Še poseb ej svetl o prihodno st ima
fotov oltaika, saj je sonce neusahljiv in b rezplačen vir energije, ki je dostop en na celot ni
zemelj ski obli. V primer javi z ostal imi viri energije pridob ivanje elektri ke iz sončne
energije ne povzroča nast ajanja izpušnih plinov, ogljični odtis pa je tudi z vključeno
proizvodnjo sončnih foto napetostnih modulov vsaj dvaj s etkrat manjši v primerjavi s
fosil nimi gorivi. Optimizacija proizvodn ih procesov je tudi znižala energijsko vračil no
dobo s ončn ih elektrarn (PV s istemov) , ki je za osrednjo Evropo padla na dve let i za
polikristal ne silicijeve m odule in tudi pod dve let i za tan koplastne sončn e celice. Cel o
Kitajska, eden izmed n ajvečjih one s nažev alcev na s vet u, j e pre poznala potreb o po
čistejšem okolju. Tako je poleg vodilne vloge v proizvodnji sončnih fotonapetostnih
modulov, prevzela tudi vlogo največjega proizvajal ca elektrike iz s o nčne energije. Njen
pos pešen vstop na fot ovoltaični trg je povzročil drastičen padec cen in eksp onentno r as t
kumulativn e name š čene moči po s vet u. V zadnjem letu smo v svetov nem merilu namestil i
za 70 GW s ončnih elektrar n, skupna nameščena moč pa je pre s egl a 300 G W. Potencial
in prednosti uvrščajo fotov oltaiko med najpomemb nejše trajnostne energ etske tehnologije
na področju ob novljivih v irov in tud i v energetiki na s ploh.
Osnovni fotonapet ostni gradnik je pol prevodniška sončna celica. Lastno sti
polprev odniš kega ma teri ala, predv s em energijska reža, s o tiste, ki najbol j vplivaj o na
učinkovito s t pretvorb e sončne celice. Za enospojne sončne celice je teor etična limita
(Shockley- Que isser limit a) pri s tandardn ih testnih pogojih 33,7 % za energijsko režo
1,34 eV. Na podlagi polprevodnika ločimo več tipov sončnih celic. Najpogostej še so
kristalne sil ic ijeve sončne cel ic e (prva generac ija), ki dosegajo visoko učinkovito st
pretvorb e (do 26 ,3 %) in največji tržni delež (> 86 %) na svetovnem trgu. Druga
generacija s o tankopl as tn e sončne cel ic e, kjer je aktivna plast debela le par mi kro metrov,
v primerjavi s 150 ali več μm pri kristal nih silicijevih s on č nih celicah. P opul arnost
tankopl as tnih sončnih celic temelji na pri č akov anih nižjih s trošk ih izd elave. Zaradi

viii
Razširjeni p ov zetek

tanjši h pla s ti pot rebujemo manj materiala , proizvodni stro ški pa so zarad i
nizkotemperat urnih proc es ov nižji in energet sko uči nkovitej ši. Tipična predstavnik a sta
CIGS in Cd T e, ki s ta dosegla tudi masovno indu s trijsko proizvodnjo . Sončne c elic e tretje
generacije (organ ske, el ektrokemijske, perov skitne) obetajo še nižje proizvod ne s trošk e, a
industrij s ke proizvodnje še n iso do segle. S o pa v zadnjem času v znanstv eni sfer i vel iko
pozornosti pritegn ile perovskitne sončne celice, saj so v le nekaj letih raziskovanj a dosegle
učinkovito s t pretvorb e do 22,1 %, kar je najh itrejši porast do sedaj. Kljub nizkim
stroškom proizv odnje in visokim učinkovit os tim pret vorbe, pa perovskitne s ončne celice
vseeno čaka še dolga pot. Predv s em stabilnost in majhna površin a do sedaj izdelanih celic
predstavl jata glavni oviri do množične proizvodnje, a hiter razvoj in obsež ne raziskave
dajejo upanj e na indu s tri jsko proizvodnjo vsaj za niš n e aplik acije.
Upr a vljan je s sv etlo bo v ta nko plas tnih so nčn ih celi cah
Tankoplastne sončne celice predstavljajo nizkocenovno alternat ivo običajnim
kristalnim silicijevim sončnim cel ic am, saj s o za njihovo izdelavo pot rebne nižje
temperatur e, porab i se manj materiala, izdelamo pa lahko celo upogljive celice. V
primerjavi s kri s tal nimi silicijev imi sončnimi celicami s o tankopl as tne t anjše, kar se v
splošnem lahko odrazi v manj š i absorpc iji svetlobe. Ker je učinkovito s t pret vorbe sončnih
celic v veliki meri odvisna od absorp c ije v aktivni plasti, je za povečanj e absorpc ije v
tanjših absorpcijskih pl asteh potrebn o skrbno upravljan je svetl obe. E n a izmed
najuspešnejš ih tehnik p ovečanja absorpcije svetlobe v t ankoplastnih sonč nih celicah je
teksturiranje površine, b odisi n a zgornji ali s p odnji plasti cel ice. Tekstur irane p ovršine z
nanometr s ko ali mikrometrsk o hrapav astjo povzročajo proti odbojni efekt ali sipanje
svetlob e (velikost posameznih struktur enaka ali večja valovni dolžini), kar podal jš a
optično pot v aktivni plasti. S tem poveča mo s vet lobno generirani tok celice , in če se n e
spremenijo električne lastnosti (napetost odprt ih sponk
V
OC in polnilni fakt or FF ), tudi
učinkovito s t pret vorbe.
Teksturirane plasti lahko vpeljemo na ali pa v strukt uro sončne celice. Lahko na
sprednjo stran s tekl a v super s trat konfigura ciji pritrdimo t eksturirano folijo za
upravl janje s svet lobo (LM fol ija) ter s tem zmanj š a mo odbojnost in povzročimo sipanj e
svetlob e. L ahko pa tekst ure vpel jemo znotraj str ukture. V t em primeru so t eksturirane
površine prozorni prevodni oksidi (TCO, nanešen na s tekl o v superstrat konfiguraciji) ali
teksturirani sub s trat i (teksturirani zadnji odbojnik na pla s tični ali kovinsk i foliji ), lahko
pa v s tru kturo vključimo tud i dod atne pl as ti . Za o betaven način v peljave žel enih tekstur

Razširjeni p ovzetek
ix

v s ončne celice se je v zadnjih letih iz kazal a te hnologija vtisa vnaprej pripravljenih
nanostruktur v proz orne in na temperatur o odpor ne lake.
Ena izmed takih replik ac ij s kih tehnik je UV nanov tisna litografija (UV NIL).
Vzorci (teksture) so narejeni z mehansko deformacijo viskoznih polimerov ( lakov), v
katere vtisnemo tek s tur irani kalup, čemur sledi s trj evanje l aka z U V svetlobo (UV N I L).
V ko mbinaciji z n anosom TCO na vti s njeno plast se lahko izognemo dragi i zdelavi TCO
z naravno ali z dodatno obdel avo dobljeno teksturo. S procesom UV NIL prenesemo
hrapavost površine s kalupa na repliko, pri čemer se ohrani morfologija kalupa in
posledično s ipanje s vet lobe. Sipano svetlob o lahko nato karakterizira mo s kotno odvisno
spektroskopijo (ARS) , ki nam omogoča določ iti funkcijo kotne porazdelit ve (ADF)
p repušč ene in odbite s ipane s vetl obe ( kako je svetloba sipana pod različnimi koti ).
Tipično d oločimo ADF z gonio metričnimi si stemi, ki pa so po časni in m erijo odziv le v
eni ravnini (1D) . Primer nejš i so sistemi s kamer o, kjer sipano svetlobo projiciramo na
zaslon in jo nato zajamemo s ka me ro . T o nam omogoča hitrej š o in popolnejšo analizo
sipane svetl obe v 3D pro s toru.
V doktorski disert acij i smo s e posveti li izdelavi in karakt erizaciji plasti za
upravl janje s svetlobo. Plasti smo izdelali s proces om UV NIL za repl ik acijo tekstur iranih
površin. Izdelane replike smo testirali in karakteri zirali, med drugim tudi s s istem om za
merjenje sipane svetl obe . V ta namen smo razvili dva sistema, enega z refl eks ij s kim in
enega s tran s mi s ij s kim zaslonom. Del ovanje in poten cialne izboljš ave z uporabo LM folije
smo preverili na pri meru perovskitnih s on č nih cel ic . Delov anje brez in z LM folijo smo
analizirali t ako eksperiment alno kot tudi teoret ično z optičnimi sim ul acijami.
UV na no vtis na lito gra fija
UV NIL je nizkocenovna in visoko ločljiv ostna tehnika replic iranja tekstur. Njena
glavna uporaba je pri vkl jučevanju dodatnih (tekst uriranih) plasti v strukt uro sončnih
celic za povečanje sipanja s vetl obe in njen ega uj etja ali za pove č anje proti -odbojnega
efekta. Poleg boljše ga izkoriščanja vpadne svetlobe v sončnih celicah se U V NIL up orablja
tudi za vpeljavo lastnost i nanotek s tur rastl inskega in živalskega sveta, kot je
hidrofobnost.
V struktur i s on čne celice so teksturirane povr š ine ponavadi TCO - ji , narejeni iz
SnO, ZnO ali podobnih material ov . Narav na r as t t eh polikri stalnih material ov obič ajno
kaže naklju č no porazdel itev teksturiranosti , npr . piramida ste s tru kture pri LPCVD
postopku al i kraterske oblike, ki j ih dobimo pri jedkanju z magnetronom nanešenih pl as ti .

x
Razširjeni p ov zetek

Vendar p a so simul acije pokazale, da so v nekat erih primerih za uj etje svetlob e
primernejše periodične strukture (sinusne, p iramide, inv ertirane piram ide, nanostol pci).
Za izdelav o takšnih struk tur so potrebni z apleteni in/ ali dragi postopki (f otolitografija z
jedkanjem, lit ografija z ionskim s nopom (F IB ) , l itografija z el ektronskim s n opom ( EBL),
reaktivno jedkanje z io ni (RIE)) in kar je š e po me mbn eje, pri več ini teh pos topkov je
substrat silicij, ki ni prozoren. UV NIL nam om ogoč a replik ac ijo pol jubnih tekstur s
prozorni mi laki, ki jih lahko nato vkl jučimo v s tru kturo sončnih celic. Še več, izdel amo
lahko tudi plasti z dvojno teks tur izacijo, npr. periodične piramide (lak) + piramidaste
naključne strukt ure z LPCVD nano som ZnO na lak. S procesom NIL lahko izdelamo
strukture velikosti nekaj deset nanometrov . Postopek je hiter, poceni in uporaben t udi v
kolut ni (rol l- to -roll) proizvodnji.
Replicirane tekstur e so narejene z mehansko deformacijo viskoznih polimerov
(lakov) pri vtisu teksturiranih kalupov. R eplika je narejena preko vme s n ega korak a, kjer
izdelamo negativno repliko oz. š tampil jko. St rjevanje lakov tako pri š tam piljki kot pri
repliki poteka pod vplivom UV svetlob e, po čemer je proce s tudi dobil svoje ime. V saka
štampil jka se lahko ve čkrat uporabi pri izdel avi replik, zaradi česar je ponovljiv os t ena
izmed ključnih lastnosti procesa.
Uspešen pr enos tek s tur e s kal upa na repl iko je najpomembnej ši dejavnik za
ohranitev lastno sti tekst ure (sipanje s vetl obe, hidrofobnost itd.). Vernost prenosa
določamo z morfološkimi me ri tv ami z m ik ro s kop om na atom s ko s ilo (AFM ) in optičnimi
meritvami, me rjenje m transmisije in kot ne porazdelit ve svetlobe. Za lažjo primerjavo
morfologij lahko s podrobno kvantit ativno pos t- anal izo dol oč imo različne paramet re, kot
so
σ
RMS hrap avost, povprečn i kot
Θ
avg , korel acijska dolžina
l
c in Fourierjeva analiza .
Takšna analiza tudi z uporabo pros to dostopnih orodij za analizo (npr. Gw y ddion)
zahteva veliko časa, zato s mo poseb ej za naš primer v okolju MA T LA B ® ra zvili orodje
za anal iz o AFM me rit ev AFM Analyz er , ki omogoča hit er in enostaven izračun
parametrov hrapavo sti. Grafični vmesn ik AFM Analyzer -ja o mogo ča enostavno izbiranje
meritev, avtomat iz irano dol očanje parametrov hrapav os ti in grafični prikaz analize. Z
enim klikom lahko analiziramo vse AFM me ritve v direktoriju , omo goča pa nam tudi
vrstični pregl ed meritv e, in sicer po dve vrstici v x in y smeri . Vse izraču nane podatke
lahko eno s tavno shranimo.
V sklopu doktorske disert acije smo predstavil i vs e korake v procesu repl ikacije
tekstur s postopkom UV N IL. Z a izdelavo replik smo za kalup uporabil i napršen Zn O:Al,
jedkan v HCl, kar povzr oči naključno teksturiran os t kraterske oblike. I zdel ane replike

Razširjeni p ovzetek
xi

smo temeljito karakteriziral i z optičnimi in morfološkim i meritv am i. Optične meritve so
pokazale, da lak i, iz katerih so repl ike iz delane , prepuščajo svet lobo brez izgub v vidn em
in dolgoval ovnem spektru, v UV d elu pa je absor pcija večja. To j e tudi pričakovano, saj
prav ta abs orp cija povzr oči njihovo strd itev. Mer itev kotne porazdel itve s ipane svetl obe
je poka zala razlike med sipanjem s vet lobe na kal upu in repl iki, kar je posl edic a r azličnih
lomnih količnikov kalupa in lakov za izdelavo replike. AFM meritve so razkrile zelo
visoko verno st preno s a , parametri hra pavosti kal upa in repl ike so zel o podobni. Tudi v
p rimeru, da isto štampiljko uporabimo dvanajstkr at, ostanejo tako morfološki kot tudi
optični paramet ri primerljiv i, kar nakazuje na visoko ponovljivost proce sa. Analiziral i
smo tudi termično stabil nos t lakov. Anal iza je pokazala, da laki preživijo do 200 ° C in
pri s egr evanju ne izpuščajo plinov. V seeno je daljša izpostavl jenos t visokim
temperatur am povzro č ila rumenenje , kar se odrazi v zmanjšani transmisiji v valov nem
območju pod 500 nm t er s tem ne gativno vpl iva na delovanje n aprav, kje r je LM folija
upora bl jena. Pri 633 nm, kjer smo merili 3D ADF, večjih sprememb nismo opazili, čeprav
deluje 3D ADF na prvi pogled ožji za segrevane replike, a se tega v 1D grafih ne vidi.
Termogravi metrijska ana liza je poleg minimal nega uhajanja pok azala tudi, da na replike
negativno deluje tudi ponav ljajoče spreminjanje temperat ure. Medtem ko smo merili težo
vzorcev, smo jih od s tran ili z grelne plošče in s o s e začasno ohladili. Rezul tat s o bile bolj
staljene oz. zaobljene strukt ure kot pri vzorcih, ki so bil i samo na eni te m peratur i.
Vtisnjene pl as ti oz. r eplike se v sončnih c eli cah uporabl jajo zunaj ali pa znot raj
sončne celice. V primeru, da jo uporabljamo kot teksturirano LM folijo na vrhu celice,
mora replika vzdržati zunanje pogoje brez degradacij e. Zato smo iz ved li trim esečno
testiranje pri zunanj ih pogojih na strehi Fakul tete za elektro tehniko, Univerze v
Ljubl jani. Izdelali smo replike z ravno in teksturirano površino ter jih testir ali v r azličnih
konfiguracijah , in sicer st eklo spodaj in lak zgora j ter lak spodaj in s teklo zgoraj. Prva
ponazarja konfigura cijo, kjer je replik a zunaj cel ice, druga pa pon aza rja primer, kjer je
replika znotraj c elice . P r av tako smo prever ili razliko med repliko na črni in beli površini.
V času testiranj a smo redno m erili tran smisijo, n a ko ncu pa izvedl i še AF M meritve in
meritev s termično kamero. Rez ul tati me rjen ja transmisije so razkrili po s topno
rumenenje, ki je bilo na koncu preiz kusnega obdo bja vidno tudi s pr ostim očesom. Pol eg
zmanjšanja totalne in difuzne transmisije pod 500 nm s mo opaz ili tudi zmanjšanje d ifuzne
transmisije v celotnem valovnem območju. Razlog za znižanje transmisije so razkri le
AFM merit ve, kjer smo izmerili manjšo
σ
RMS kljub večjemu številu pra š nih del cev, k i s o
se nabrali na površ ini. Vzrok za nižje vredno s ti paramet rov hrapavosti je verjetno v

xii
Razširjeni p ov zetek

dolgot rajni izpostavl jenosti pov išanim temperat uram (test je bil namreč iz veden polet i)
in pon avljajočim se temperatur nim spremembam, ki so rahlo spremenil e tekstur o.
Najslabše so s e namreč odrezale replike, postavljene na črno površino. Meritv e s termično
kamero, izvedene septembra, so pokazal e, da se la hko replike segrejejo tudi nad 40 °C, ta
vrednost pa je bila julija zagotovo še višja. T o je verjetno tudi razlog za ru menenje.
Teksturirane rep like lah ko vpel jemo tudi v strukt uro sončne celice, pon avadi na
steklo v superstrat konfiguraciji. V tem primeru prevzame tekstur a replike vl ogo teksture
TCO-ja, a ker replik e niso prev odne, je nano s TCO-ja vseen o potreben. Da ohranimo
izbrano teksturo, mora b iti nanos TCO t anek. V ta namen smo iz d elali re plike z ravno
in tek s t urirano povr š ino ter nanje napr šili GITO , z galije m dopirani ITO. Za kal up pri
izdelavi repl ik smo uporabil i na s tekl o napr š en ZnO:Al, jedkan v HCl. Naprševanje
GITO- ja je bilo uspešno, GITO se je dobro prijel na repl iko in se n i odl epil niti po dal jš e m
času. Z GITO - m naprš ene replike so imele zmern o prevodno s t, ki se je izboljšala po
temperatur ni obdelavi pri 200 °C. AFM meritv e so pokazale, da se je tekst ura odlično
ohranila, iz česa r s klepa mo na konformno r as t GITO- ja . Tudi temperatur na obdelav a pr i
200 °C ni poškodovala teksture, plast G ITO - ja je verjet no deloval a kot zaščita. D osegli
smo visoko t ransmisijo ( > 80 %) v š irokem valovnem obmo čju. Prevodno st in transmisijo
bi lahko še i zbol jš ali , a p os topek ni bil optimi zi ra n za nano s na replike, ampak na s t ek l o.
Rezultat i so pokazali , da je UV NIL pri meren post opek za r eplikacijo tek s tur . Eno
štampil jko lahko uporabimo več krat z visoko ver nos tjo prenosa, pri čeme r se ohr anijo
tudi l astn osti sipanja s ve tlobe. Prav tako je uspe šen nanos TCO -ja na repliko. Vseeno je
testiranje pr i zunanjih p ogojih razkrilo ru me nenje in rah lo zmanjšanj e hrapav os ti repl ik.
To pomeni, da s o za upor abo v aplikacijah nujni l aki z ve č jo s tabil nostjo in obstojnost jo.

O rga nsko - ano rga ns ke per ovsk itne so nčn e c elic e
Organsko- anorg anske perov s kitne (v nadal jevanju perovskit) sončne celice so nov
razred sončnih celic, ki je postal popularen v zadnjih letih predvsem zaradi visoke
učinkovito s ti pretvorbe in poceni izdel ave . Prvo delujočo celico so izdelal i leta 2009 z
izkoristko m 3, 8 %. Pravi razc vet pa se je za čel l eta 2012, k o s o zamenjali tekoč elektrol it
s trdim materialom za transport vrzel i (HTM – hole t rans port material) ter izboljšali
stabilnost in učinkovitost pret vorbe na 9,7 %. L eta 2016 je učinkovito s t pretvorbe že
dosegla 22,1 %, kar velja za najhit rejši porast v u činkovitosti pretv orbe v zgodovini .
Perovskit ima kristal no zgradbo ABX 3 , kjer j e A velik kation , metil amonij
(CH 3 NH 3 + ), etilamonij (CH 3 CH 2 NH 3 + ), formami dinij (NH 2 CHNH 2 + ) al i celo cezij ( Cs + ).

Razširjeni p ovzetek
xiii

Kation B je ponavadi svinec ( Pb 2+ ), lahko pa upo rabimo tudi kositer (Sn 2+ ). X je halidni
ion, običajno jodid (I - ), bromid (Br - ) ali klorid (Cl - ) ali njihova kombinacija (npr. I 3-x Br x ).
Možne so različne A, B in X kombina cije, ki se odrazijo v različnih optoelektronskih
lastnostih. Le - t e so pri perov s kitih odličn e. Perovskit i so odlični absorberji vidne svetlob e,
energijsko režo, ki je 1 ,55 eV za CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 , pa lahko spreminjamo z vključitvijo
bromidnih ali klor idnih ionov. Zaradi visokega absorpcijskega koeficient a je tipična
debelina perov s kitnih sončnih c elic le okoli 300 nm. P rav tak o ima perovskit visoko
mobilnost elekt ronov in v rzeli ter dolge rekombin acijske ča s e in difu zijske dol žine.
Perovskitne sončne cel ic e so s e razvile iz elektrokemij s kih sončnih celic. Prv e celice
so ohranile mezopor ozno strukt uro in tak šne celice še vedno sod ijo med najučinkovitej še
perovskitne sončne celice. Možne so tudi planarne konfiguracije , kjer so v s e plasti gladke,
saj ima p erovskit visoke mobilnosti in dolge difuzijske č a s e. Zarad i ločitve n osilcev naboja
je perovskitni absorber ukleščen med materi ala za transport elektronov (ETM) in vrzel i
(HTM). Naloga ETM in HTM je, da selektivno prepustita en tip no silcev, drugemu pa
pre hod preprečita. Glede na to, na kateri s trani perov skita se nahajata, ločimo med
navadno (n-i-p) in i nvertirano (p-i-n) konfiguracijo. Pri konfiguraciji n-i-p je ETM me d
sprednjim kontaktom in perovskitom, H TM pa med perovskitom in zadnjim kont aktom.
Pri p-i-n je s ituac ija ravn o obratna.
Ponavadi so celice iz del ane na steklenih substratih, kjer je že nanešen TCO.
Naslednje pla sti so tipičn o nanešene z vrt enjem, tako ETM in HTM kot tudi perov ski tne
plasti, nekatere ma terial e pa lahko t udi naparimo. P ri nana š anju z vrtenjem s o material i
raztopl jeni v topilu, zato mu sledi tud i segrevanje, da topilo odstran imo. Zadnj i kontakt
je običajno naparjen. Izdelava perovskitne plasti je rahlo zahtevnejš a. Formacija
perovskitne kristalne s tr ukture je obič ajno izvedena iz dveh prekurzorjev, npr PbI 2 in
CH 3 NH 3 I . N anos je nato iz veden z r azličnimi postopki , kot so napar evanje, nanašanje s
potapl janjem (dip- coati ng) ter enokoračno (one - step) ali dv okoračno (two -step)
nanašanje z vrtenjem (spin -c o ating). Nato je potrebno izvesti še temperat urn o obdel avo
pri povišani temperat uri (80 – 1 20 °C), pri kateri prekur zorja r eagi rata in tvo rita kristalno
strukturo.
Nanašanje z vrtenjem je trenut no najbolj razširjena in najučin kovitejša me t oda
izdelovanja p erovskitnih son čnih celic. Posl ed ično je izdelava hitra in enostav na. V seeno
nas kljub doseženim visokim izkoristkom od maso vne proizvodnje loči š e veliko. P ovrš ina
celic je namreč ma jhna , okoli 1 c m 2 , celice pa s o dokaj nestabil ne. Napredek je sicer v
zadnjem času očit en; raziskoval c i so izdel ali celice, k i s primerno enkapsula cijo preživijo

xiv
Razširjeni p ov zetek

tudi 6 m esecev. Perov skitne sončne celice verjetno ne bodo nad omestile ko nvencionalnih
sončnih cel ic, l ahko p a imajo vlogo v tandemu z njimi, saj lahko tako zn atno izboljšam o
delovanj e silicijevih sončnih celic.
S primerno izbiro in raz merjem halidnih ionov lahko s perov skiti d osežem o idealno
razmerje energij s kih rež za tandem s silicijevimi celica mi (1,73 eV : 1, 12 eV). Prvi poskusi
so že pokazali obetavne re zultat e t ako 4 - spončnih kot tudi monolitni h 2 - s pon č nih
tandemskih celic (4- and 2- termi nal). Pri tandemsk ih celic ah s ta zaradi komplek s no s ti
izdelave, večjega š tevil a plasti in ujemanja tok ov obeh c el ic načrto va nje in izbira
materialov in njihovih d ebelin še večjega pomena. V te m pri meru je upo raba optičnih
simulacij ključnega po mena, saj n am simulacij e pomagajo predvideti del ovanje t er s tem
prihranijo čas in zman jš ajo štev ilo neuspe š nih oz. neoptimalnih ekspe rimentalnih
poskusov.
Tudi pri tandem s k ih sončnih celicah s ta refl eksija in podaljšanje optične pot i
pomembna dejavnika del ovanja c elic e. Trenutne monolitne eksperimental ne c elic e ni s o
izdelane na s ilic iju s teksturirani ma obema stranema, saj nam tehnol og ija izdelave
perovskitnih celice t ega še ne omogoč a. Lahko pa delovanje izboljša mo z uporabo LM
folije in to preverimo z optičnimi s imulacijam i. V dokt ors k i disertacij i se osredotoč imo
na monolitne 2- spončn e tandemske perov ski t/ silicijeve het eros pojn e sonč ne celice , kjer z
optičnimi simulacijam i predvidimo delovanje različn ih konfiguracij brez in s
teksturirani mi posameznimi pla stmi.
V s klopu doktorske disert acije smo izdel ali enospojne perov skitne sončne celice s
p-i-n invertirano strukt uro, kjer smo za H T M u porabili polim er PTAA. Konfiguracija
izdelane sončne celice je bila steklo/ ITO/PTAA/perov skit/PCBM/BCP/ Ag.
Perovskitno plast smo izdel ali z enokora čnim nanašanjem z vrtenjem in postopek izd elave
podrobno opisali. Končna velikost posamezne celice je bila 4 x 4 mm 2 , na vsake m
substrat u pa je bilo 6 celic. Cel ice so dosegle visoko učinkovit os t pretvorbe 16,1 %. Z
dodatkom hipofosforn e ki s line (HPA) v razto pino perov skitnih prekurzorjev smo
poskusili delovanje še izbol jš ati. H P A naj bi zmanj š al a pov ršinsko n apetost med HTM in
perovskitno pla stjo. Tako bi bilo perovskitnih kr istalov manj, a bi bili več ji. M eritve so
pokazale, da HPA iz bol jš a morfologijo perovskit a, na električno del ovanje pa, razen
manjšega izbol jšanja FF, HPA ni imela vpl iva. Te celice smo na to uporabili za te s t iranje
delovanj a LM folije. LM folijo smo izdelali s postopkom U V NIL, za kalup pa smo
uporabili naključno tekstur irano s ilicijevo rezino s piramidami velikosti do 8 μ m. Pri
J
-
V
meritvah se je pokazal o 5- % relat ivno iz bol jšanje, dosegli smo učinkov itos t pretvorbe

Razširjeni p ovzetek
xv

17,1 %. Izboljšanje je bilo predvsem na račun zmanjšanja r efleksije, ki se je s koraj
prepolov ila, ter s tem po večanja kratkostične tokovne go s tot e
J
SC .
V
OC in FF sta ostal a
nespremenj ena . Podobne izboljšave, čeprav z nižji m izkoristkom sončnih celic, s mo dobili
tudi, če s mo namest o PTAA za HTM uporabili PED OT : PSS. Vendar pa so EQE meritve
pokazale manjše izboljšanj e kot
J
-
V
meritve. Vzrok za nižji
J
SC pri merit vah EQE v
primerjavi z
J
-
V
meritv ami smo pr ipisali uh ajanju svetlob e iz celice, ki je posledica loma
svetlob e na teksturi in majhne površine celice. Le -ta je tako majhna (4 x 4 mm 2 ) in steklo
v prim erjavi z njo t ako debel o (1,1 mm), d a veli k del s vetl obe zapusti območje aktivne
plasti, še preden jo do seže. T o ugotov itev smo pre verili z optični mi simulac ijam i. Zanje
smo uporab ili optični simul ator CROWM, ki omog oča s imulac ije tankoplast nih strukt ur,
kot so pla sti p erovskitnih sončnih celic , z debelimi plastmi v strukturi, kot so st ek l o, LM
folija ali s ilic ijeva rezin a. CROWM o bravnav a tanke plasti koherentno , po principu
prenosnih matrik, debele plasti pa nekohernet no, na osn ovi s ledenja žarkov. Vhodne
parametre s mo pridobili eksperimental no. Debeline posamezn ih plasti smo določili iz
presečne SEM meritve,
n
in
k
paramet re pa s p omoč jo
R&T
meritev ali literature za
perovskit. Dobil i smo zelo dobro ujemanje za EQE in refleksijo, tako za celico brez LM
folije kot za celico z LM folijo, kjer s mo omejili aktivno površino. Tak o smo pot rdili
domneve o uhajanju svet lobe iz celice. Z dobrim ujemanjem za celici s PTAA in
PEDOT: P SS kot HT M smo validiral i optični model . V nadal jnjih simulacijah smo se
osredotočil i na celice s PTAA kot HTM. Simulacija z neomejeno aktiv no površino je
pokazala, da lahko za velike celice, kakršne so potrebne za s on č ni modul, pričakujemo
okoli 10- % rel ativno izbol jš anje. Validirani opt ični model s mo nato uporabil i, da
raziščemo izgube v simulirani s ončni celici. Ugotovil i s mo, da najve č izgu b predstavlja
prav odboj od sprednje plasti (stekl a), ki g a učinkovit o zm a njšamo z LM foli jo. Preostale
izgube s o s kor aj zanemarl jive, razen v primeru , ko imamo real no, omejeno celico s
teksturo, kjer je vel ik d el izgubljen zaradi uhajanj a svetlobe. LM folija je u činkovita tudi
v primeru, da imamo debelejšo plast perovskita , kjer podaljšanje optične plasti ni več
relevant no. Tudi v prime ru, da je perov s kitna pl as t debela 1 μm , lahko pri čakujemo do
8 % višji
J
SC , saj zaradi zmanjšanja refleksije pride v celico večja količina svetlob e.
Pokazali smo tudi , da z LM fol ijo izboljšamo
V
OC . V tem primeru upor abimo tanj šo
perovskitno pla st, a je zaradi izbol jš anja z LM folijo tok enak, koncentracij a nosilcev pa
večja, kar se odrazi v 3 6 mV večji
V
OC . Za konec smo predvidel i še izboljšan ja z različnimi
teksturami LM folije . Primerjali smo naključne piramide, ki smo jih tudi eksp erim ent alno
testirali, periodične piramide, “ cornercube ” tek s t uro ter konkavno parabol ično U in

xvi
Razširjeni p ov zetek

konvkesno parabol ično O teksturo. Vse t eks ture so izboljšale delov anje, za najboljšo se
je izkazala tek s tura “ cornercube ” s 15- % i zboljšavo ob pravok otnem upadu svet lobe.
Optični model smo prev erili tudi na monolitni tandemski perovskit/ SHJ sončni
celici, povzet i iz literature. Za perovskit smo povzeli podatke iz literature z energijsko
režo 1,55 eV. Ponovno smo dobili dobro ujemanj e med meritvijo EQE in optičnimi
simulacijami , kar pomeni, d a lahko optični model uporabimo tudi za simulacije
tandemskih s on č nih celic. Testirali smo monolitne perov skit/SHJ s on č ne celice v š tirih
različnih konfiguracijah . Meril o z a izboljšanje je
J
SC v točki tokovnega ujemanja ( pri
dvospončni izvedbi s ta celici v ezani zaporedn o in tokova obeh cel ic morata biti enaka za
optimalno delovanje), za do s ego le-te pa smo spreminjali le debel ino pero vski tne plasti ,
debeline ostalih plasti s o bile konstant ne. Začeli smo s planarno konfiguracijo, kjer s o vse
plasti gl adke. Nato smo testirali c elic o, kjer je zadnja stran silicijeve r ezine teksturirana,
ter celico, kjer s ta obe strani te s kturirani . Druga opcija s e je izkazal a za izredno
učinkovi to ,
J
SC /uči nkovitost pretv orbe s mo izbol jš ali za 15 %. Žal ta možnost v praksi
še ni izvedljiva, saj nanašanje z vrtenjem ni pri me r no za te ks ture mikrom etrskih dimenz ij.
Izboljšanje je bilo spet predvsem na račun zmanjšanja refleksije ter tudi podaljšanja
optične poti za dol govalovno svetl obo v siliciju. Povečanje
J
SC v siliciju je takšno, da
moramo to kompenzirat i z debel ejš o perovskitno plastjo. Na koncu s m o preveril i še
delovanj e z LM folijo, ki s mo jo postavili na vrh planarne tandem s ke c elic e. Testirali s mo
različne teksture LM folije, enako kot pri enospojnih perovskitnih s on čnih celicah .
Ponovno se je z LM fol ijo delovanje izboljšal o in spet je najbol jša tekstura “ corner cube ” .
Nadaljnje iz bol jš ave s e skrivajo predv sem v izbiri ustrezn ejše energijske reže (1,73 eV
namesto 1,54 eV), za kar bi potreboval i us trezne
n
in
k
spektre, in pa optimizacij i debelin
preostalih plasti . Smiseln a bi bila tudi zamenjava HTM spiro-OMeTAD-a, saj ta poleg
refleksije pred stavlja na r ač un absorp cije glavni vir opt ič nih izgub .
Rezultat i s o pot rdili, da lahko z LM folijami izboljša mo d elovanje tako enospojn ih
kot tudi tandemsk ih perovskitnih celic. Za napov edovanje izboljšanja lahko uporabim o
validirani optičn i model ter tako pr ivarčujemo na času in denarju.
Si stem i za do loč an je si pan e s vetlo be s k am ero
Kotna porazdel it ev (ADF) s ipane svetlobe na na noteksturiranih površinah je pri
tankopl as tnih sončnih cel ic ah močno povezana z učinkovito s tjo pretvorb e . Ponavadi jo
določamo s tehni ko k otn e odvisne spektrosko pije (AR S) , ki na m da pomemben podatek
o učinkovitost i tek s tur e za povečanje absorp cije v strukturi in s te m tudi višje

Razširjeni p ovzetek
xvii

učinkovito s ti pretvorb e naprave. Tipični ARS s ist emi s o goniometri čni sist em i, ki merijo
ADF sipane prepu š čen e i n odbit e svetlobe pri vsakem kotu sipa nja posebej , ampak le v
eni ravnini in pri izbrani valov ni dolžini. Če pred pos tavim o rotacijsko simetrijo sipane
svetlob e (pri naključni teksturiza ciji), nam takšna meritev zagotov i dovolj informacij za
določitev prostorsk ega (3D) ADF , vend ar ga ne o vredno ti v cel oti. Gon iometrični ARS
sistemi so zanesljiv i in nat ančni , pri čemer je merit ev dolgot rajna, še po sebej pri visoki
ločljiv os ti. P rav ti dve p oma njkl jivosti goniometričnih ARS s ist em ov , mer itev v le en i
ravnini in po časnost, odp ravijo sistemi A RS s k amero.
Sistemi AR S s kamero temeljijo na zaslonu, na katerega ujamemo/pr ojic ira mo
sipano svetlob o, in kameri, s katero to svetlobo nato zajamemo. Glede na vrst o zaslona
ločimo med sistemoma z ref leksijskim in transmisijskim zaslonom. V sklopu doktorskega
i zobraževanja smo postavil i oba sistema . Pomembno je, da za slon odbit o ali prepuščeno
svetlob o tudi razprši, s aj jo le tako lahko zajamem o s kamero . Sl iko s kamere je potrebno
še obdelat i, da iz vredno sti posameznih pik slov določimo vredn osti ADF pri posame znih
kotih v prostoru. Sistemi na osnovi CCD kamere s o kompa ktni, poceni in omogočajo
določitev sipanja svetlobe v širokem območju kotov z enim zajemom slike (nekaj sekund)
pri posamezn i val ovni dolžini.
V s iste mu z refleksijski m zaslono m zajamemo s kamero svetlob o, ki s e odbije od
zaslona. Tako se izognemo izgubam v zaslonu zaradi absorpcije in loml jenju ter s ipanju
svetlob e v zaslonu . Kot zaslon smo uporabili bel papir, ki ima visoko odbojnost ter s koraj
lambert ianovo porazdelitev sipane s vetl obe. Za zož i tev funkcije sipane s vetl obe smo
uporabi li polkrožn o lečo in s tem dobili kom p aktnejši s istem . Motnjam in nasičenju
kamere zaradi spekularnega žarka smo se izognili tako, da smo slednjega s pu s ti li skozi
izdelano luknj ico v zaslonu.
V sistemu s transmisijskim zaslonom ujamemo s ve tlobo, ki jo zaslon prepu sti skozi,
v tem sistemu je torej kamera postav ljena za zaslon. Kot transmi s ij s ki zaslon smo
uporabili pro s ojno in ra zprš ujo če pleksi stekl o in polprosojno steklo z bel im sipalnim
premazom. P redno s t transm is ijskih zasl onov v pri me rjavi z refleksijskim i je zajem večjih
kotov, s aj im a postavit ev elementov ma nj ši vpl iv na vidni kot kamere (vzorec lahko
zastre pogled kamer i). Nadgradnja sistem a z refl ek si jske ga na t ransmisijski zaslon
omogoča meritve tako prepušč ene kot tudi odbite svetlobe. V sistemu s mo ohrani li
luknj ic o za prepustit ev spekularn ega ali laserskega žarka, lečo pa smo izpustili . Za dosego
čim večjega območja kotov smo postav ili zaslon pod kotom 45°. Tako lah ko pomeri mo
vse pol arne kote od 0°do 90°. Pri tem izgubimo del informacije pri azimutnih kotih. To

xviii
Razširjeni p ov zetek

smo nadoknadili tako, da smo vzorec zasukali za 1 80° in pomeril i ADF še enkr at. Na ta
način lahko po merimo A DF v s kor aj celotni (pol) s feri .
V doktorski disert aciji smo opisali postavitev obeh sistemov in obdelavo s lik za
izračun ADF iz vredno s ti pikslov na s lik i. Podrob no smo karakt erizirali vse uporabl jene
zaslone, saj s e sipana svetlob a z vzorca še en krat sipa na zaslonu. Tako je pri obdelavi
podatkov potrebno vedet i, p od k akšnim kotom pade posamezen žarek sipa ne s vetl obe na
zaslon ter pod kakšnim kotom ta žarek na zaslonu nato vidi kamera . U te ži t veno funk cijo,
s katero utežimo vrednost i pikslov za določ eni pro storski kot, odčitamo iz ADF zaslona
na podlagi vpadnega in izhodnega kota. Pri meritvah s mo uporabili rdeč laser pri valov ni
dolžini λ = 633 n m. Oba sistema smo validirali z goniomet ričnim AR S s istemo m na
primeru tekstur ira nih TCO vzorcev z različnimi morfologijami, referenčne ga svetila ter
periodičnih uklonskih mrežic. Dobil i smo dobro ujemanje, ki je potrdilo primernost
sistemov za merjenje sipane svetlobe. Pravilnost meritev so potrdil e tudi s imul acije, ki
so pokazale dobro uje manje na primeru heksag onalno razporejenih l ukenj na silicijeve m
substrat u. Izvedl i smo tudi podrobno analizo p ogreškov zaradi vključit ve leče , ki se j im
lahko izognemo z natančno postavit vijo elemento v, ter prikazal i, kako lahko s sistemom
s kamero izra čunamo del ež difu zne svetlobe (ha ze).
Razviti siste mi za me rjen je sipane svetl obe s kam ero so močno orodje za n atančno
karakterizacijo ADF in porazdel itev jakosti seva nja (LID) in se lahko uporabl jajo kot
nadzorno orodj e v industrijski proizvodn ji. Nak lju čno, periodično in kvazi - periodi čno
teksturirani vzorci in viri svetlobe, npr. LED , so natančno karakterizirani v zelo kratkem
času (nekaj sekund).
Za klj uček
Disertacijo smo sklenili z zaklju č nim poglav jem, kjer smo pr edstavili gl avne
ugotovit ve. Navedeli smo tudi objave , kjer smo predstavil i rezultate disertacije, in izvirne
prispevke k znanosti.
O bjav e
Rezultat i doktorske di s ertac ije so bili predst avljeni v naslednjih izvirnih
znanstvenih člankih , objav ljenih v mednarodnih revijah s faktorj em vpliva:
 JOŠT, Marko , K R Č , J ane z, TOPIČ, Marko. “Camera - ba sed angular
resolved spe c t ros copy system for sp atial measurements of scatt ered light,”
Applied O ptic s
, vol . 53, no. 21, p. 4795, J ul. 201 4

Razširjeni p ovzetek
xix

 JOŠT, Marko, KRČ, Janez, TOPIČ, Mark o. “C amera -based ARS system
for compl ete light scattering det ermi n ation/charact erization,”
Measurem ent
Science and Technology
, v ol. 27, no. 3, p. 03520 2, Mar. 201 6
 JOŠT, Marko, ALBRECHT, Steve, KEGELMANN, Lukas, W OLFF,
C hristian M., LANG , Felix, LIPOVŠ EK, Benjamin, K RČ, J anez, KORTE,
Lars, NEH ER, D ieter, RE C H, Bernd, TOPI Č , Marko “Efficient Light
Management by Textur ed Nanoimprint ed La y e rs for Perovskite Solar
Cell s ”, poslano v ACS Phot onics
Trije pr ispevki so bili po recenzijske m postopku objav ljeni v revijah brez faktorja
vpliva al i konferenčnih z bornikih:
 TOPIČ, Marko, J OŠT, M arko, SEV ER, Mart in, FI L I PIČ , Miha, LOKAR ,
Žiga, L I POVŠ EK, Benjamin , ČAMPA, Andrej , KRČ, Janez. “De s ign
chall enges for light harvesting in phot ovo ltaic devices,” in
Proc. SPIE
, 2016,
vol. 989 8 , p. 9 8 980D – 9 8980D – 7
 JOŠT, Marko, TOPIČ, Marko. “ Efficiency limits in photovolt aics : Case o f
single junction s olar cell s ,”
Fact a universitat is - series: Electronics and
Energetics
, vol . 27, n o. 4, pp. 6 31 – 63 8 , 2014
 JOŠT, Mar ko, ALBREC HT, Steve, LIP O VŠE K, Benjamin , KRČ, J anez,
KORTE, Lars, RECH, Bernd, TOPIČ, Marko “Back - and Front-sid e
Texturing for Light-managem ent in Perovskit e / Silicon-heterojunct ion
Tandem Sol ar Cells,” Energy P ro cedia, vol. 1 02 , pp. 4 3 – 48, Dec. 201 6

Rezultat i s o bil i pred stavl jeni t udi na n as lednjih mednarodn ih k onferencah:
 European Photovolt aic Sol ar E nerg y Conf erence
o 2015: 3D c amera-ba sed system for me a s ure ments of s cattered or
emitted light
 European M aterials Re s earch S ociety Meeting
o 2016: Back- and front - side textur ing for light-management in
perovskite / silicon-heterojunct ion tande m solar cel ls
 International Conference on Mi croelectronics, D evices and Mat erials
o 2013: Came ra-ba sed measurement of light scatt ering int ensity
distribution

xx
Razširjeni p ov zetek

o 2014: UV n anoimprint lithogr aphy for repl ication of t extured surfaces
in thin-film phot ovoltaics
o 2015: Nanoi mprinted text ures on gl ass a s a substrate for GITO
deposition
o 2016: Hypopho s phorou s acid as an additive for inverted perovskit e
solar cell s
Izv irni pris pe vki k z nan os ti:
Ocenjujemo, da pričujoča doktorsk a di sertacija v sebuje naslednje iz virne pri s pevk e
k znanosti:
 AFM anal y zer s kl jučnimi parametri hra pavosti mikro - in nano-tek s tur
 Izboljš anje up rav ljanja s svetl obo v perovskitnih sončnih celicah, ki temelji na
validiranem optičnem model u in simulacijah
 Sistem s ka mero , lečo in ref leksijskim zaslonom za me rjenj e prepuščene s ipane
svetlob e s kamero vkl jučno s t ransforma c ij s kim m odelom in kalibrac ijskim
postopkom za zajem sipane svetlobe pod vel ik imi koti
 Sistem s ka mero za merjenje tako prepuščene kot odbit e sipane svetl obe s ipane
svetlob e s transmi sijskim zaslonom vkl jučno s transform acijskim model em in
kalibracij s kim p ostopkom za z ajem sipane svet lobe v celot ni s feri

xxi
Z usa m me nfa ss u ng
Lichtmanag em ent ist ein wichtiger Aspekt der P hotov oltaik, um ei ne eff izie nte
Nutzung der Solarenergie zu gewährleisten und die Effizienz von Solarzell en zu
verbessern. Ein effiziente s Lichtmanage me nt ba siert auf Ant ireflexion und Li chtstreuung.
Erstere verr ingert Verl uste durch Reflexion des einfall enden Lichtes. Let ztere verlängert
den optischen Weg in der a ktiven S c h icht einer Solarzelle und erhöh t damit die
Absoprtion des ei nfal lenden Sonnenl ic htes . Dadur c h wird der Wirkung sgrad erhöht.
Beide Effe kte werden üblicherweise durch st rukturiert e Oberflächen entweder inn erhalb
des Schicht s tapels oder auf der Ober s eit e des Bauteils eingebra cht. Diese Dissertation
konzentriert sich auf die Herstell ung und Charakt eris ierun g von text urierten Schichten
zur Verb esserung d es Lichtmanagement s . Da zu wird eine texturiert e
Lichtmanag em ent folie (LM-Folie) mi t pa s send em Brechun gsindex auf Perovskit-
Sol arzel l en aufgetragen, um eine Verb esserungen in den gefert igten S olarzellen zu
ermöglichen und diese anschl ie ß end im Detail zu anal ys ieren.
Zur Herstell ung der texturiert en LM-Folien wird Ultraviol et t-Nanoimprint -
Lithographie (UV NIL) verwendet . Es ist ein neuart iger Ansatz fü r die Repl ikation von
text urierten Oberflächen. Der Prozess ist kostengü ns tig, einf ac h und s chn eller al s andere
Texturierung stechniken. Hierbei wird die Texturoberf läche vo n einem Master auf ein
Duplikat mit Hilfe eines Zwischenste mpels ü bert ragen und UV -empfindliche Lacke auf
die Sub s trat e aufgetragen. Wir stell en den Replikationspro zess vor und charakt erisieren
die erzeugt en Duplikate mit Oberf lächenmorphologie und Tran s missio nsmessungen .
Dabei konnte eine hohe Reproduzierb arkeit der zu transferierenden Oberfläche und eine
moderate thermi s che Sta bilität bis zu 200 °C real isiert werden . Während des thermi s chen
Stabil i tät s tests verfärb ten sich die Proben, die für eine längere Zeit (> 30 min) einer
hohen Temperatur (200 ° C) aus ge s etzt waren, gelblich. Der Vergilbunge ffekt fü hrt e zu
einer vermind erten Gesamt- und diffu s en Durchl ässigkeit für Licht mit Well en längen
unter 500 nm. E in ähnlicher Effekt wird auch währ end der O utdoor -Tests beobacht et.
Hierbei wurden verschie dene Konfigurat ion en ge testet. Einige Proben wu rden auf einer
weißen und einige auf einer schwarzen O ber fläche platziert . Na ch dreimonatiger

xxii
Zusammenf ass un g

Exposition gegenüber den Umgebungsbedin gungen verfärbt en s ich die Proben gelb.
Proben auf schwarzer Oberf läche erhitzten sich stärker und d ie Vergil bung war stärker
als jene der Proben auf weißer Oberfl äche. Zu sätzlich kam es zu einem l eic hten Schmelzen
des Lacks, was durch n iedrigere
σ
RMS - Wert e best ätigt werden konnt e. Dies zeigt, dass
Replikation s lack e mi t einer stabileren chemi s chen Zusammensetzung f ü r den Einsatz in
realen Anwendungen b enötigt werden. Wenn die LM - Fol ie innerhal b des Gerät es
verwendet wird, muss eine zusätzl iche leitfähige Schicht au s einem transparente n
leitf ähige n Oxid (TCO) auf der O b erseite der LM-Folie abgeschied en werden, um ein en
elektrischen Kontakt zu bilden, da die U V-NIL-L ac ke nicht leitend s ind. In unserem Fall
wird ein Gal lium dotierte s IT O (G ITO) als TC O verwendet. Der E rfol g der Ablagerung
wird durch Me ssungen des Fläch enwiderstands , der Oberflächenm orph ologie und d urch
optische Me ss ung en (Transmission) bestätigt.
Eine für die Anwendun g wichtige Grundvorau ssetzung ist, dass die erzeugt en
Repliken die genaue Oberflächent extur und dami t die L ichtstreuung s eige nsc h aften de s
Masters bew ahren. Fü r die Messungen der Lichtstreuung wird e in n euartiges
kameraba s ierte s System entwickelt . Es ermöglicht die Bestimmung der räumlichen
Winkelv erteilungsfunktion (3D ADF) von gestreut em oder emittiert em Licht mi t einer
Digitalkamera . Die 3D A DF wird aus dem digit alen Bild e rmit telt das auf einem Schir m
aufgenommen wurde. Wir stell en zwei Lösun gen vor : Die erste verwendet einen
reflekt ierenden Bildschirm und eine Linse, um den W inke lb ereic h zu erweite rn. Die zweit e
verwendet einen lichtdurc hlässigen Schirm, der bei 45 ° posit ioniert ist und di e Messung en
all er Polarw inke l ermöglicht . Mit diesem System können wir sowohl transmit tiertes oder
reflekt iertes Licht , gestreut von strukturiert en Proben, als auch direktes Licht von
Lichtquell en in wenigen Sekunden quant ifizieren. I n dieser Dissertat ion werden beide
Setups beschrieben. Die Transformationen des erfassten digitalen Bildes zur Bestimmung
des 3D ADF werden erläutert . Die Syste me werden mithilf e einer zufällig
nanotext urierten transparent en Probe und einer periodisch strukturierten, nicht
transparenten Probe validiert . E ine gute Überein s timmun g wird mit rigoro s en
Simulat ionen und Messergebni ssen erzi elt, die mit einem herkömml ic hen
goniometrischen , winkel abhängig aufgelösten Streusystem durchgef ührt werden. Das
System mit dem li c htdu rchlässigen Bildschir m wird verwendet , u m die erstell ten
Duplikat e zu chara kterisieren.
Um die Funkt ionalität der erzeugten LM -Folien in einer real en Anwendung zu
testen, werden anorgan isc h-organ ische Perovskit e verwendet , die s ich a ls wirksa me

Zusammenf ass un g
xxiii

Mate rial klass e f ür die Herst ellung effizienter Sol arzellen erwie s en haben . Wir prozessiere n
eine mit UV NIL hergestell te LM-Folie auf der Glasseit e einer invertiert en (p-i-n)
Perovskit-Sol arzelle mit 16,3% W irkungsgrad. Durch die LM- Folie er höht sich der
Kurzschlu s sstrom s um 1mA/cm² was zu einer beacht lichen r elativen Verb ess erung des
Wirkungsgrade s v on 5 % auf einen Gesamtw irkungsgsrad von 17,1% führt. Zur
Unterstützung d er experi mentellen Ergebnisse werden opti s che 3D -Si mulationen, die a uf
experimentel l gewonnenen Param etern basieren, verwendet . Es wir d eine gute
Übereinstim mung zwi schen den simul ierten und experiment ellen Dat en erhal ten, die da s
Modell validiert. Die optischen Simulationen zeigen, dass die wesentliche Verbesserung
der Bauteileffizi enz auf eine Verringerun g der Total ref l exion zurückzuführ en ist. Für
großfl äc hige Sol arzellen ist eine relat ive Verbesserung des K ur zschlussstroms von bis zu
10% möglich. Das optische Modell wird auch verwendet, um das Potential von
monolithischen Perovskit /Silizium-Heterojuncti on- Tandemgeräten zu anal ysieren,
welche theoretisch die E f fizienz der Einzelsolarzell ee überw inden kann. Wir betrachten
vier verschieden e Bauweisen in den optischen Si mulationen: planar Solar zellen, Zell en
auf rück - oder be idseitig textur ierten S i Wafer, un d pl anare Zellen mit einer texturiert e n
LM -Folie auf der Frontseite . Fü r jede dieser vier Designs wird das Stromgl eic hgewi cht
zwischen d en beiden Subzell en simuliert, u m deren E ffizi enz zu bew erten. Dabei erzielt
die Zell e auf dem beid s eit ig strukt urierten Siliziu m - Wafer die b estmöglichen E rgebni sse.
Eine r elative St ei gerung der E ff iz ienz um 15% im Vergleich zur planaren S olarzell e kann
erreicht werden. Des We iteren w ird da s Potenzial von LM-Folien zur Verb ess erung der
Bauteileffizi enz von Perovskit- Solarzel len gezeigt und der Weg für den wei teren Einsatz
optischer Si mulationen in Perov s kit-Einzel - oder Tandem-Sol arzellen geebnet .

xxv
T ab le of c on te nt s
Zah val a/A ckn owle d g e men t .................................................................................. i
Ab str act .............................................................................................................. iii
R azširje ni p ovz ete k ............................................................................................ vii
Zu samm enf assun g ............................................................................................. xxi
Tab le of c onte nts ............................................................................................. xxv
Lis t of s ym bol s a nd c ons tants ................................................................ ......... x xix
Lis t of abb rev iati ons ....................................................................................... xxxi
1 Intro du cti on ..................................................................... 1
1.1 Gene ral intr odu ction to the fiel d ............................................................. 1
1.2 Top ic of the the sis ................................................................ .................. 2
1.3 Ou tline of the thes is ................................................................................ 4
2 UV N ano im pri nt Lit hogr aph y .......................................... 7
2.1 Intr oduc tion ............................................................................................ 7
2.2 Expe rim ent al ........................................................................................ 10
2.2.1 Sampl e fabrication .................................................................................. 10
2.2.2 Sampl e chara c terizat ion ................................................................ ......... 11
2.2.3 AFM anal y z er software .......................................................................... 11
2.3 Op tical par ame ter s of the U V NI L lac qu er ........................................... 16
2.4 Mas ter vs r epli ca ................................................................ .................. 17
2.5 Pr ocess repr odu cib ility .......................................................................... 19
2.6 Ther mal st abil ity of th e U V NIL l acq uer .............................................. 20
2.6.1 Re s ult s and discussion ............................................................................ 21

xxvi
Table of cont ents

2.7 Outd oor tes ting of the UV N IL re plic as ................................................ 24
2.7.1 Re s ult s and discussion ............................................................................ 25
2.7.2 Concl us ion .............................................................................................. 31
2.8 UV N IL re plic as as su bs tra tes f or T CO dep osi tion ................................ 31
2.8.1 Experi mental .......................................................................................... 32
2.8.2 Resul ts and discussion ............................................................................ 34
2.8.3 Concl us ion .............................................................................................. 38
2.9 Sum mar y ............................................................................................... 38
3 O rga nic- ino rga nic p er ovs kite sol ar cell s .......................... 41
3.1 Intr oduc tio n .......................................................................................... 41
3.1.1 Perov s kite .............................................................................................. 41
3.1.2 S ingle junction perov s kit e s ol ar c ell s ....................................................... 43
3.1.3 Perovskite/ silicon-heterojunct ion tandem solar cel ls ............................... 48
3.2 Expe rim ent al ......................................................................................... 49
3.2.1 S ample fabrication .................................................................................. 49
3.2.2 Sampl e c hara cterization .......................................................................... 53
3.3 Re sults and dis cuss ion ................................ ........................................... 53
3.3.1 Hypophosphor ous acid a s an a dditive for invert ed perovsk ite solar cell s . 54
3.3.2 Re s ult s with t he light manage me nt f oil .................................................. 57
3.3.3 Con c lusion s ............................................................................................ 61
3.4 Op tical m odell ing .................................................................................. 62
3.4.1 Opt ic al s imul ator CROW M .................................................................... 62
3.4.2 Model validation ................................................................ ..................... 63
3.4.3 Optical analysis of singl e junct ion p erovskite solar c ell s ......................... 66
3.4.4 Optical an alysis of tande m perovskit e/silicon- hete rojunction solar c ells . 72
3.4.5 Concl usion .............................................................................................. 77
3.5 Sum mar y ............................................................................................... 78
4 C ame ra- bas ed lig ht s cat teri ng mea su reme nt sy ste ms ..... 81
4.1 Intr oduc tion .......................................................................................... 81
4.2 Ref lectiv e s creen .................................................................................... 83
4.2.1 Experi mental .......................................................................................... 84
4.2.2 Image proc essing and tra nsformations .................................................... 86
4.2.3 Resul ts and discussion ................................ ............................................ 92
4.2.4 Concl us ion .............................................................................................. 96

Table of cont ents
xxvii

4.3 Tra nsm iss ive s creen .............................................................................. 96
4.3.1 Experi mental .......................................................................................... 97
4.3.2 Image proc essing and tra ns form ations ................................ .................... 99
4.3.3 Result s and di s cu ss ion .......................................................................... 105
4.3.4 Concl us ion ............................................................................................ 11 2
4.4 Summ ary ............................................................................................ 113
5 Con clus ion s an d out look .............................................. 11 5
5.1 Gene ral con clus ion .............................................................................. 115
5.2 Outl ook for f ut ure r ese arch ................................................................ . 118
5.3 Lis t of p ubl ica tions ............................................................................. 120
5.3.1 Journal publ ications ............................................................................. 120
5.3.2 Conf erence proceedings ......................................................................... 121
5.4 Ori ginal sc ientif ic c ontr ibut ions .......................................................... 1 22
Re fere nce s ......................................................................... 1 23
A ppe ndix A ...................................................................... 137
A ppe ndix B ....................................................................... 1 41

xxix
Lis t of sym bo ls an d c on sta nt s

S y m b o l

U n i t

D e s c r i p t i o n

α

°

Screen angle

A

Absorptanc e

ADF

a.u.

Angular di s trib ution Function

ADF screen

a.u.

ADF of the screen

β

°

Light incident angle on the s cre en

d

nm

Thickness , distan ce

δ

rad

Angular step

Eg

eV

Energy band-gap

φ

°

Azimuthal angl e

FF

%

Fill f ac tor

γ

°

Angle bet ween the camer a and the scattered be am
position on the s creen

H

Haze

h
pp

nm

Peak- to - p eak value

J
SC

mA cm -2

Short -c ircuit cur rent density

J
SC_ JV

mA cm -2

Short -c ircuit cur rent density from
J-V
measureme nt

J
SC_ EQE

mA cm -2

Short -c ircuit cur rent density from EQE
measurement

J
SC_S IM

mA cm -2

Simulat ed short- c ircu it current densit y

k

1.38* 10 - 23
m 2 kg s -2 K -1

Boltzmann c on s tant

k

Extinction coefficient

λ

nm

Wavel ength

l
c

nm

Correlat ion length

n

Real part of t he complex re fractive index

n

cm -3

Electron con centration

Ω

srad

Sol id angl e

p

nm

Period

p

cm -3

Hole concent ration

P

W

Power

PCE

%

Power conver sion efficien c y

xxx
List of symbol s and const ants

S y m b o l

U n i t

D e s c r i p t i o n

PCE JV

%

Power conver sion efficien c y from
J-V
measuremen t

PCE MPP

%

Power conver sion efficien c y from MP P trac king

PCE EQE

%

Power conver sion efficien c y from EQE measurem ent

R

Reflectance

R
dif

Diffuse refl ectance

R
EQ

mA cm -2

Equivalent reflection cur rent density lo ss

R
sh

Ω sq -1

Sheet resistan ce

R
SIM

mA cm -2

Simulat ed equivalent reflect ion current density loss

R tot

Total refl ectance

SBV

Specular beam value

σ
RMS

nm

Root-mean-squar e roughness

t

s

Time

T

Transmitt ance

T

°C

Temperature

T
dif

Diffuse tran smittance

T
spec

Specular t ransmittance

T
tot

Total t rans mit tance

Θ

°

Scatt ering angle, polar a ngle

Θ
avg

°

Average angl e

τ n

ns

Electron l ifetime

τ p

ns

Hole lifet ime

V
OC

V

Open-circuit vol tage

xxxi
Lis t of ab bre vi a tio ns

A b b r e vi a t i o n

D e s c r i p t i o n

AFM

Atomic force microscopy

a-Si:H (i)

Hydrogenat ed a morphous silicon, intrin sic

a-Si:H (n)

Hydrogenat ed a morphous silicon, n-t y pe d oped

a-Si:H (p)

Hydrogenat ed a morphous silicon, p-t y pe doped

Ag

Silv er

AM 1.5G

Air mass 1 .5 glob al solar spectru m

AR

Anti-refl ec tion

ARC

Anti-refl ec tion c oating

ARS

Angular resol ved spectro s copy

ASTM

American S ocie t y for Testing Mat erials Standard s
Organization

Au

Gold

BC

Back contact

BCP

Bathocuproine

Br

Bromine

C 60

Buckmin s terf ullerene

c- Si

Crystal line s ilicon

CaTiO 3

Calcium titanat e

CCD

Charge-coupl ed device

CH 3 NH 3 P bI 3

Methyl ammoni u m lead iodide

CH 3 NH 3 +

Methyl ammoni u m

CH 3 NH 3 I

Methyl ammoni u m iodide

CH 3 CH 2 NH 3 +

Ethylammoniu m

CIGS

Copper indium gallium (di) selenide

Cl

Clorine

CROWM

Combined ra y optics / wav e optic s numerical model

Cs

Caesium

CuI

Copper(I) iod ide

CuSCN

Copper(I) thioc yanate

DMF

N
,
N
-dimethylf ormamide

DMSO

Dimethyl s ulf oxide

xxxii
List of abbrevi ations

A b b r e vi a t i o n

D e s c r i p t i o n

DSSC

D ye - sen s itized solar cell s

EBL

Electron bea m lit hography

EQE

External quantum efficiency

ETM

Electron t rans port material

FC

Front contact

FFT

Fast Fourier T r ans fro m

FIB

Focused Ion Beam

FTO

Flourine doped tin oxide

GBL

γ -but yrolactone

GITO

Gall ium doped ITO

GUI

Graphical u s er interface

HCl

Hydrogen chloride

HeNe

Helium-neon

HI

Hydrogen iod ide

HPA

Hypophosphor ous acid , H 3 PO 2

HTM

Hole transport material

I

Iodine

ICBA

1 ′ ,1 ′′ ,4 ′ ,4 ′′ -Tet rahydro-di[1 , 4]methanonapht haleno
[1,2:2 ′ ,3 ′ ,56,60:2 ′′ ,3 ′′ ] [5,6]full erene-C 60

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

ITO

Indium tin oxide

KOH

Potassium hydr oxide

LED

Light emitt ing d iode

LiF

Lithium fl uoride

LM

Light manag ement

LPCVD

Low-pressure chem ical vapor deposit ion

MoO 3

Molybdenu m triox ide

MPP

Maximum pow er point

NH 2 CHNH 2 +

Formamidin ium

NIL

Nanoimprint lit hography

NIR

Near-infrared

NiO x

Nickel oxide

NPD

N,N ′ -Di(1-napht hyl)-N,N ′ -diphen yl-(1,1 ′ -biphen y l ) -4,4 ′ -diam ine

Pb

Lead

PbAc 2

Lead acetat e

PbI 2

Lead iodide

PCBM

[6,6]-phenyl-C 6 1-but yric acid meth yl ester

PDMS

Polydimethyl siloxane

List of abbrevi ations
xxxiii

A b b r e vi a t i o n

D e s c r i p t i o n

PEDOT: P SS

Poly pol y st y rene sulfonat e

PET

Polyethylene terephthalat e

polyTPD

Poly[N,N’ -bis(4-but ylphenyl) - N, N’ -bi s phen y l benzidine]

PTAA

Poly [bis (4 - phen yl) (2,5,6-trimentl y phen yl) amine]

RF

Radio frequenc y

RIE

Reactive ion etchin g

SEM

Scanning el ectron microscope

SHJ

Silicon-heteroj unction

Si

Silicon

Sn

Tin

SnO 2

Tin oxide

spiro-OMeTAD

N2,N2,N2 ′ ,N 2 ′ , N7 , N7 , N7 ′ ,N7 ′ - oc taki s(4-methoxyphenyl )-9, 9 ′ -
spirobi[9H-fl uorene]-2,2 ′ ,7,7 ′ -tetram ine

STC

Standar d test conditions

TCO

Transparent c ondu ctive oxide

TiO 2

Titanium d ioxide

TIS

Total integrat ing scattering

TGA

Thermogravi metric analysis

UV

Ultraviol et

UV NIL

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy

VIS

Visible light

ZnO

Zinc oxide

ZnO:Al

Zinc oxide, dop ed with al uminum

ZnO:B

Zinc oxide, dop ed with boron

1
1 I ntr od uct io n
1.1 Ge ne ral i ntr odu cti on to the fie ld
In pur s uit of a cleaner environment and lim iting gl obal warming, the re newable
energy sources are beco mi ng mor e a nd more impor tant. Es pecially phot ovoltai cs (P V)
has a bright future due to inexhaust ible and free sol ar energy . The Sun is by far the most
abundant energy source, providing more energy in one hour than it is c on sumed b y the
mankind in a whole y ear. Co mpared t o other energy sour ces, it i s also t he most evenly
spread over the globe. This gives every nation a c hanc e of a fuel- , cost- and pollut ion-
free energy generation ; h owever, countries clo s er to equat or natural ly ben efit more, e.g.
Sicily receives solar irradiation of 1 900 kWh m -2 , Slovenia 1200 kWh m -2 and Germany
1000 kWh m -2 [1].
The electricity from solar energ y generation it s elf is emission free, and ev en with
the inclu sion of s olar pan el production , t he carbon footprint i s 20 times l ower than from
burning f ossil fuel s [2] . Optimization of the produ ction pro cess es has also decreased th e
energy payb ack time of t he PV sy s tem s , reaching around 2 years in middle E urope for
the conventional multi-crystal line s ilic on technology and even le s s for thin-film
technol ogies. Accelerat ed entry of China on the PV market has caused a massive increase
in solar module producti on, wh ich has re s ult ed in a drastic drop in prices and growt h i n
cumulative instal lation of PV systems. In the last 10 y ears the instal lation growth has
been exponent ia l with over 70 GW in s tal led l as t year, exce eding 30 0 GW overall. Even
China, one of the most notorious pollut ers in the world, has recognized the need for a
clean environment and is now a leader in PV production and deploym ent [3]. The
potent ia l and benefit s of the P V ma ke it one of the most prominent players in the
renewabl e energy fi eld and al s o in the energ y sect or in general.
The basic unit for photo voltaic s olar energ y conversion is a solar cell based on a
semiconductor m aterial, where conver s ion of solar energy into el ec tric en ergy is caused
by a photovolt aic effect. Semiconductor material properties, mainly the energy bandgap,
are t he most im p ortant factors to determine the efficiency of conversion. For a s ingle

2
Chapter 1

junction device, the (Shockl ey -Quei s ser) limit is 33.7% at bandg ap of 1.34 eV under
standard test condition s (STC) [4], [5] . Us ing a variety of semiconductor materials ,
different types of solar cells with different conversion efficiencies exist. The c onvent ional,
first generation solar cells are mon o- and multi-cr ys tal line s ilicon s olar cells, which r each
the highest conv ersion efficienc ies (26.3% , [6]) and have the highest, do mi nant share
(> 86% ) in the global market [ 3 ]. The second generation of solar cell s are the so -call ed
thin-fil m solar cells. Compared to a 150 μ m thic k silicon absorber in a convent ional Si
solar cell, the absorber is only a few micron s thi ck. The main repre s entat ives of thi s class
are C I GS, CdTe and amorphou s silicon s olar cell s . T he p opularity of thin-film dev ices i s
based on anticipated lower costs due to small material consumption and low energy
production proce s se s , while still reac hing high efficiencies ( above 20% for a s olar cell) .
Latel y, solar cells w ith an even lower cost p otential are being researched (t hird
generation). Organic a n d dye-sensitized s olar cells (DSSC) had both shown promise;
however, recent discovery of perovskit e solar cells has shaken the researc h community .
In only a few years, the perovskit e solar cell conversion efficiency rocketed to 22.1% [ 6 ] .
Despite cheap manufacturing and high efficiencies, the perovskit e solar c ell s still have a
long way to go . T he main deficiencies are a small area of the device, stabil ity iss ues and
lead t oxicity. Nevert heless, the research on perovskit e s ol ar cell s has onl y yet begun and
its exten s ivene ss gives hope for successfull y overcoming the chall enges for either an
industrial product ion or becoming an afforda ble and suitabl e solut ion for niche
application s .
1.2 To pic of t he t he sis
The recent drop in solar module prices , the progr ess in energy s torage systems and
the entry of new player s , such as T e s la Solar [7], on the market has increa s ed the
popularit y and intere s t in the PV. S till, furt her cost redu ctions in solar cell produ c tion
are need ed for PV to suc cessfull y riv al conventional energy sour ces or become att ractive
for everyday powering appl ic ations. T hin-fil m solar cells [8] present such a low-co st
alt ernative to conventional crystalline solar c ell s, since low te mpe rat ure processes are
used for fabrication, less semicondu ctor material is consumed and even flexibl e
photovolt aic module s can be produced. However, i n comp arison t o cr y stall ine solar cel ls,
thin-fil m solar cells are much thinner, which gen erally results in a lower absorption of
light . As t he conversion efficiency of a solar cell is s trongl y related to the lev el of light

Introduction
3

absorption in the active layers, light management t ec hniques need t o be implement ed to
enhance ab s orpt ion in thinner ab sorber layer s [9].
One of the most s ucce ssful techniques to increa s e the absorption of light in thin -
film solar cell s is s urface tex turing in nanometer feature s ize , either at the top or at the
bott om of the device [10] . Nanotex tured surfaces in the solar cell device result in anti -
reflect ion (AR ) and a light scattering effect (features size equal or greater t han
wavel ength [11 ]), w hic h increases light in -coupl ing and prol ongs the optical light path in
the active layer, respecti vely. This increa s es the photocurrent of the device ; as long as
electrical properties ( open-circuit v oltage and fill factor) remain unchange d, the in crease
in photocurrent is directl y tran sferred to an increase of conversion effic iency [ 1 2] .
The AR coatings are usuall y fl at and reduce the r eflection (u s uall y at the a ir/glass
interface) b y adjusting th e refractive index change s at the int erfaces and the of the la yers.
Depending on the n umber of the layers, they are optimized for a narrow (less layer s ) or
broader reg ion of wavele ngths (mult iple layer stack). Some of the technologie s , such a s
crystall ine silicon, also take anti-reflection propert ies of the native surface textur e [13] .
Alt ernatively, one can apply a textured light management (LM) foil on the front glass
side in a superst rate cell configurat ion. As a result , in bot h c ase s the light in-coupling is
increased, t hereby increasing t he ab s orpt ion and photocurrent of the device.
Inside the d evice, textured surfaces are introduced b y tran sparent t extured
superstrat es (glass carrier covered with surface text ured transparent conduct ive oxide
(TCO)) [10], [ 1 4] , textured s ub s trat es (steel or plastics, covered with t extured back
reflect or), or by additio nal layers integrated into the structure. In the last years, the
technol ogy of embo ssing a pre-fabri cated nanotextur e on a ma s ter in a tran sparent heat
resistant lacquer layer has been shown as a promising way to introduce the desired
text ure in the solar cell st ructure [15] – [21].
A novel, low-cost and effective approach of embossing textures, either on a small-
or large-area s cal e, is nanoimprint lithography (NIL ) [15]. Patterns ( t extures) are c re ated
by mechanical deformation of polymer s (lacquer s ) in a soft phase by imprinting the
master texture into an imprint lacquer, foll owed by curing. Curing can be done either b y
heat (thermopl as tic NIL) or by UV light (UV NIL) . Co mbined with TCO deposition on
top of the imprinted layer, thi s combination can replace an expensive T C O with a native
or with po s t-proc essing obt ained texture.

4
Chapter 1

It has been proven that NIL process replicate s th e s urface roughness and maintains
scattering abilit ies of the ir masters [16], [ 1 7] . T o characteri ze l ight scattering propertie s
of surfac e- tex tured super strates or substrates, different measurement techniques are used .
One of the most common is angular resolv ed spectroscopy (ARS), which enables to
determine angular distribut ion function ( ADF) of s catt ered light – how the light is
scattered in different angl es [22], both in transmission and reflection . ADF is typicall y
measured by goniomet ric systems, w hich are slow and only measur e ADF in one plane.
This is where camera-ba sed sys te ms off er an effective s olut ion. In cam era- b as ed sy stems ,
the scattered light is project ed on a screen and captured with a ca me ra . Thi s enabl es a
fast and more complete anal ys is which is also suitabl e for indu stry.
In the doctoral di s sert ation, we focus on the fabr ic ation and characterizat ion of
light management layers and the analysis of their functioning in perovski te solar cells.
UV NIL is used to create the text ured surface s. The created replicas are also c h aracterized
with a c a me ra-based light scattering measureme nt system. Two s ystems, one with a
reflect ive and one with a transmi ssive screen, ba s ed on a digit al CCD camera to
determine 3D ADF of the transmit ted and the reflected l ight were deve loped for this
purpose. To test the repl icas’ performan ce in a real application, t he creat ed LM foils are
applied on the top side of the perovskite s olar cell s. T he performance of the devices
without and with the LM foil is analyzed exper im ental ly and theoretica lly by using
optical simul ations.
1.3 Ou tli ne o f the th esi s
The doctoral dissertation is struct ured as foll ows:
Ch ap ter 1 provides a gen eral introduct ion to the thesis.
Ch ap ter 2 focuses on the UV Nanoimpr int Lithography proce ss that is used for the
replication of the textur es . First the replication process is described . The created replicas
are thoroughl y characterized by AFM and transmi ttance measurement s . Transfer fidelity
and optical parameters are determined . Suitabil ity of the replicas for furt her us e is
checked. Thermal s tabil ity of the lacq uers is inve s tigat ed . The replicas are subjected to
outdoor testing und er environment al condition s. Final ly , the re plicas are used a s
su b strates for t he depo sition of the transparent conductive oxide.

Introduction
5

Ch ap ter 3 is devoted to perov s kite sol ar c ells. First, perovskite ma terial
characteristic s, single junction and tandem device s based on perovskite absorber are
presented. Then, the fabricat io n and characterizat ion of the perovskite solar cells is
explained. The textured light ma na gement foil i s u sed to further improve the performance
of the devices. I n the final part of the chapter, optical simul ations are used to support
the experimental findings and provide further insight into the potent ial of the light
management foils for the perovskit e solar cells. T he optical model i s validat ed and appl ied
to simul ate text ured light manage me nt foils i n both singl e junction and tandem
perovskite devi ces.
Ch ap ter 4 is dedic ated to camera-based light scattering measure me nt systems. Two
different system s are pre sented, one w ith a reflect ive and one wit h a t ransmissive s creen.
The mathematic s behind the im age proce s sing from raw c a me ra image to a 3D Angular
Distribution Function of scattered l ight is explai ned and properties of the screens are
analyzed. B oth systems are validat ed on a set of textured transparent c ondu ctive oxides.
Ch ap ter 5 reviews the most important res ul ts of the research, present s concl us ions,
provides an outlook for f urther research, lists t he publications and summarize s original
scientific co ntributions of t his dissertation.

Several parts of this thesis h ave been peer-reviewe d and published or are about to
be published in scientific journals. The author of this thesi s is the first author of all the
publicat ions.
The content s of sections 3.2., 3.3 and 3.4 on the experimental analysis and optical
modelling of perovskite single junction solar cell s w ith LM foil have been submitt ed under
the titl e “ Efficient Light Management by T ext ured Nano imprinted Layer s for Perovskit e
Sol ar Cel l s ” to the journ al
ACS Photonic s
.
The content s of s ect ion 3.4.4 on optical modelling of tandem perov s kit e/silicon
heterojunct ion solar cell s was publ is hed in 201 6 under t he titl e “Back - a nd Front- s ide
Texturing for Light-management in Perovskite / Silicon-heterojunct ion Tandem Sol ar
Cell s ” in the journal
Energy Procedia
and is listed with t he DOI number :
10.1 0 1 6 /j.egypro . 2016.1 1.316.
The contents of section 4.2 on the c amera-ba sed light scattering mea s urement
system with a reflective sc re en was published in 2014 under the titl e “Camera -ba s ed

6
Chapter 1

angular resolv e d s pect roscopy system for s patial measurements of scatt ered light” in the
journal
Applied O ptic s
a nd is listed with t he D OI number: 10.1364/ AO. 5 3.004795.
The contents of section 4.3 on the camera-ba s e d light s cat tering measurement
system with a transmi ssive screen was published in 201 6 under t he t itle “Camera -ba sed
ARS sy s tem for compl ete light scatt ering determinat ion/c haracterization ” in the journal
Measurement Science and Technology
and is listed with the DO I number: 10.1 08 8/0957-
0233/27/ 3/035202.

7
2 U V Na no im pr in t L ith ogr ap hy
This chapter is devoted to fabrication of textur ed s urfa ces. For this purpose, we
util iz e UV Nanoim print Lithography, a replication process where a textur e is tran sferred
from a ma s ter t o a repl ic a . T h ere are mult iple advantages of UV Nanoimprint
Lithography. O n e t extured master, c re ated by compl ex and expensive pro cesses, can be
replicated multipl e times, making texturization time- and cost- effective . The repl ic a s are
transparent, whi ch e n ables us to introduce text ures that can otherwise onl y be made on
non-transp arent s ubstrat es. The creat ed replica can be used as a light ma n agement layer ,
either on top of the devi ce or inside it . When put on t op of t he device, the replica shoul d
endure outdoor environment al conditions for longer periods of time w ithout deterioration
in performance. When t he repl ica i s u s ed in s ide th e devi ce, t he deposition of other layers
on top of it wil l follow . This requires t he text ure to be preserv ed durin g the deposition
process and the next layer to s u c cessful ly adher e on the repl ica. I n this chapt er , all these
topics are covered. We inspect transfer fidel ity and optical parameters of the replicas.
Outdoor test ing, thermal s tabil ity te s ting and deposition of tran s parent condu ctive oxide
are carried out to determine s uitabil ity of replicas f or us e in solar cell struc tures .
2.1 Int rod uc tion
Higher conversion efficiencie s of solar c ell s can be achieved by material and process
optimization and also by increasing light in-coupl ing using light manageme nt techniques .
Under light ma nage me n t, we consider anti-reflection ( A R ) and light trapping (LT)
effects, which can be achiev ed by planar AR coatings (ARC) and/ or tex tured interfac es
between different layers of solar cel l s tacks [12]. The planar ARCs are us ually flat and
reduce the reflection b y optimal thic kness and re fractive index gr ading of the l ayers at
the interf ac e s ( usu ally air/ glass interface). The textured int erfaces c an either be
integrated inside a cell structure by texturing the front electrode, typically the
transparent condu ctive oxide (TCO) [23], [24], or by applying light mana gement (LM)
foils on the front glass side in a s uperst rate cell configuration [ 25 ], [26]. Textur ed foils

8
Chapter 2

have an advantage over the ARCs, especiall y in planar devices with flat interf aces, as
they c an both redu ce t he reflection as wel l as s cat ter (for nano -sized tex ture featur es) or
refract (for micro-sized features) light , which pr olongs the optical path and induces l ight
trapping [27] . As a r esult, the phot ocurrent density is enhan ced [12].
Textured s urfa ces in thin - fil m phot ovoltaics are co mmonly rando m. They are eit her
formed by natu ral growt h (e.g. by the growt h of pol y -crystal line l ay ers such as LPCVD
ZnO :B [ 28] result ing in pyramid-like features) or fabricat ed by etching the existing layers
(such as magnetron sputtered ZnO:Al etched in HCl [ 29], resulting in c rate r-like features
or a silicon wafer with <100> orientation etched in KOH, resul ting in randoml y
distributed p y ramids [30] – [32] ). The simul ations, however, s howed tha t somet imes
periodical 1D or 2D fe atures (sinusoid s, pyra mi d s , inverted pyramids, nanorods) trap
light more effi ciently [33] . To create such text ures, compl ex and/or expensiv e processes
are needed, e.g. photolithography w ith etching , Focused I on B e am (FIB), Electron Beam
Lithography (EBL), Reactive Ion E tchin g (RIE) [34] . The t ypical s ubstrat es for tex tures
are silicon and nickel, w hic h are not tran sparent. The usage of s uch t extures is
consequent ly limited, especiall y as an ARC on top of the ce ll . Therefore, in the last y ear s
the t echnology of e mbossing a pre-fabricated nan otext ure on a master in a transparent
lacquer layer has become a promising way to introduce a de sired texture in the solar cell
structure [15]. T his way we c an integrate such a t exture in the solar cell that is (can only
be) made on n ontransparent sub s trat es.
An effective novel approach of embo ss ing textur es, either on a small or a large
scale, is the nanoimprin t lithography (NIL) process [35] . It is a low-c o s t and high-
resolution technique of replicating textures. The replicat ed textur es are created by
mechanical deformation of polymers (lacquers) in a s oft phase b y imprinting a master
text ure into an imprint l ac quer. T h e replica of th e master is made w ith the help of an
intermediate s tep, wh ere a negative repl ica/stamp is ma de fir s t. Eac h s tamp can be u s ed
several time s to creat e replica s , makin g reprodu cibility one of the key factors in the
process. Two m ain tech n iq ues to c reat e a s tamp are thermopl astic NIL (imp rint is c arri ed
out under heat) and UV NI L (imprint under ult ra -violet (UV) light) , while the creation
of (positive) replicas is usually carried out under the U V light . The ther moplastic NIL
uses PDMS, a silicon-based organic polymer [36], as a stamp, while the UV NIL uses U V
sensitive l ac quers for both stamp and repl ica [17], [37] . I n t he dissertat ion, the focus is
on UV NI L , where the curing of both stamp and replica lacquer s is done using a UV light

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
9

[16] – [19]. UV NIL is a cc u rate in nan ome ter scal e, f ast, cheap and also applicabl e for roll-
to -roll manufactur ing.
UV N I L h as found many uses in different re search f ie l ds . The mo s t common is the
fabrication of nanostru ctures for light scattering and trapping [ 1 6 ], [ 1 8 ], [ 1 9] , back
reflect ors [37] or anti-refl ec tive coatings [20], [21] in thin-film solar cell s . Furthermore,
with UV NIL, double structur ed textur es c an be introduced, e.g. periodi cal pyramid s
(lacquer) + pyramid-like random nanotex turing from LPCVD of ZnO :B on top of the
lacquer [3 8 ] . Howev er, when integrat ed inside the dev ic e structure, t he textured repl ic as
can repl ac e the TCO’s t exture, but not its cond uctivity. T he lacquers are made from
non-conduct ive polymer s, therefore the depositio n of a TCO material is s til l needed.
Besides light harve s ting improve me nts for solar cell applic ation, the advantages of UV
NIL technology are also used in some other fields, such as biology when replicating
text ures from ani ma l s [39] or plant s [40], [41] to implement nanot extured characteri s tics,
such as hydroph obicity.
In this chapter, the U V NI L repl ic ation process is pre s ented with all the s tep s
explained. The obt ai ned replicas are thoroughly characterized . Atomic Force Microscopy
(AFM) measurement s are carried out to inves tig ate the fidelity of the textur e transfer
by comparing root-mean -square roughness,
σ
RMS , corr elation length ,
l
c , and average angle
of the feat ures ,
Θ
avg . AF M analyzer s oftw are has been developed for an easier and fast
analysis of the obtaine d AFM scans ; the s oftw are is shortly describe d. Reflection ,
transmission and light scattering measurement s determine the suitabil ity of the replicas
for further use in photovolt aic s as light manag ement layers, either out side or inside the
device. Opti cal paramete rs of the UV N I L lacq uers, needed for optical simulat ions , have
been extract ed. Thermal stabilit y of the replica lacquer has been examined. Outdoor
testing ha s been perform ed to test the dur ability performance of t he replicas as a l ight
management foil in outdoor condition s, based on their transmission and preservation of
the scatt ering abilities. A TCO w as sputtered on the replicas to investigate the possibility
of t he replica’ s integrat ion insid e the device. TC O coated replica s are then characteri zed
electrical ly by sheet re s ist ance and optical ly by tot al and diffuse transmission.

10
Chapter 2

2.2 Ex pe rimen ta l
2.2.1 Sa m ple fa bri cat ion
The UV N I L r eplication process is carried out in air in the foll owing steps (as
schematical ly shown in Figure 2.1 ):
i. A tex tured sample is use d as a m aster for the repl ication.
ii. A s tam p lacquer, depo sited on a s ubstrat e (la c quer 1/substrat e 1), is
imprinted on t he t extured master.
iii. Viscou s lacquer adjusts to the structure of the master and is cured under
UV illuminat ion. Lacque r 1/ s ubstrat e 1 become a stamp.
iv. Aft er the separation of the stamp (negative replica) from the master, the
stamp can be used as a (quasi)ma s ter and is imprint ed in the lacquer 2
deposited on a sub s trat e 2.
v. UV illumination cure s the second lacquer.
vi. Once separated from the s tamp , the acquired (posit ive) replica is read y for
use in phot ovoltaic devices.

Figure 2.1: UV NIL rep lication process wi th depicted steps. Vi scous lacquer is imprinted (i i) i n
a textured maste r (i) and cured with UV lig ht (iii ). After the sepa ration a sta mp is obtained.
To c reate a replic a (vi ), th e proced ure is repeated (i v, v) with t he stamp taki ng the place o f a
master.
Hostaphan PET film and glass slide (Corn ing Eagle glass, 1 mm thick) wer e u sed
as s ub s trat es for the stamp and the replica, respect ively. Commercial ly availabl e lacquers

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
11

(provided by CCoating s ) are used. Lacquer S-12 is u s ed for the creation of a stamp and
is de signed to adhere to the PET film, used as a stamp s ub strate. Lacquer MO -18 is used
for a replica and is designed to adher e to a glass substrat e , how ever, primer P-8 is used
to improve the adhesion . MO - 1 8 is also heat resist ant up t o 2 00 °C and can endure some
furt her deposition proc esses. Add itionally, the two l acquers are de signed so that they do
not s ti ck t o each other during the replicat ion proce ss and their se paration is possible.
Both c an either be deposited on the substrates using the doctor blade technique - the
thickness of the layer bef ore the imprint is 50 µm – or by dripping a smal l am ount of
lacquer on the mas ter or replica substrate and then placing stamp s ub strate or stamp
onto it . UV LED s with a peak wavelength at λ = 368 nm were used to cure the lacquers.
t
= 5 min was more than enough to provide 1.5 J cm -2 needed to cure the la cquers. 5 min
ult ras onic is reco mmended after the replica fabr ication. O therw ise, s o me time s re plicas
get covered by a thin greasy layer for wh ich no explanat ion ha s been f ound .
2.2.2 S am ple ch ara ct eri za tio n
After the fabrication, t he replica s were analy ze d to determine t he tran s fer fidelity
and establ is h suitability for furt her use. AFM was used to determine the surface
morphology of t he s ampl es and transfer fidelity. Measurement s w ere carried out using
Asylum research MFP- 3D™ AFM. Non -contact tapping mode wa s used and mu lt iple
randomly chosen spots on each sample wer e mea s ured . The resolut ion was 256 x 256
points for 10 x 10 µm 2 and 5 x 5 µ m 2 ar eas, and 512 x 512 for 20 x 20 µm 2 area s. The
results were analyzed using AFM analyzer, a softw are tool developed for this purpose.
The reflectance and transmittance were measur ed using Lambda 950 Perkin Elmer
spectrophot ometer. The scanning was done in a broad wavelength range, from 3 00 nm
to 12 00 nm w ith a s tep of 5 nm. 3D ADF mea surements were perf ormed u sing c amera-
based light s cat tering measurement sys te m, described in s ect ion 4.3. La ser with λ = 633
nm was used a s an ill umi nation s ource .
2.2.3 A FM a na lyze r so ft war e
AFM analyzer i s a s oftw are for automatiz ed analysis of the AFM mea s ur em ents.
It is a s tandal one soft ware with a GUI. However , since it was developed in MATLAB ®
it needs a MATLAB Co mpi ler Runtime (MC R) release 2013a ( 8. 1 ) 6 4-bit to run. It was
writt en as an alt ernative t o a free SPM (scanning probe micro scopy) analyzer

12
Chapter 2

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.2: (a) AFM a nalyzer GUI a nd (b) Li ne i nspector pa nels showi ng the analysi s of a replica
of an etched ZnO: Al master.
Gwyddion to simplify and speed up the ba s ic AFM analysis with pred efined buil t - in
analysis funct ions. The AFM analyzer enabl es simple selection of measure ments,
automatized c alcul ation of roughness parameters and graphical presen tation of the
analysis.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
13

Th e AFM analyzer’s u ser interf ac e makes it ea sy to switch betw een mea surements
and to select function s . The s elect ed measure ment can be analyzed only, or also
graphical ly present ed with only one click. Line inspector enables scanning overview of
the measurement s, comparing two lines each in x and y directions. All calculated data
can be easily saved. In addition, the AFM analyzer enables automated anal ys is of the
whol e directory of me asu rements. This is especial ly us eful when many s imil ar AFM
measurement s w er e per formed. The analyzer c urrently supports the f ollowing file
formats:
 .ibw (A sy lum Research),
 .tiff (Park S ystems),
 .000 (onl y for a specific AFM),
 .txt files generated from Gwyddion.
Figure 2.2 (a) shows the AFM anal yzer G UI, pr esented on a case of a repl ica of an
etched ZnO:Al master. The main p anel in the G UI consists of a list box on the left side
where a fil e is selected , plot in t he middle where a raw AFM scan is shown, and cal culated
roughness parameter s on the right side. The d esired c o mmand is s elect ed by clicking on
the appropriate butt on. By c hoo s ing “Analyze” , the paramet ers are calculated, by
choosing “Plot” the parameter s are calculated and pl otted. The L ine inspector ( Figure
2.2 (b)) shows a raw AFM scan on the left side and plot ted line scans on t he right side.
The desir ed line is select ed with a slider and the line points can be saved. Sl iders can be
turned on and off to show onl y one line in x or y direction .
2.2.3.1 Cal cul ated par ame ters
The AFM analyzer calcul ates the most import ant roughne ss p arameters:
 Peak to p eak value,
h
pp
 Root mean squar e roughness ,
σ
RMS
 Correl ation lengths,
l
c :
o Average
o Horizontal , vert ic al an d both diagonal lines
 Period: t his is useful when anal y z ing p eriodic sampl es ,
p

o Horizontal , vert ic al an d both diagonal lines
 Average angl e,
Θ
avg
To obtain correlat ion lengths, first 2D autocorrelat ion (see Figure 2.3 (a), t op right
corner) is cal c ul ated using in-built Mat lab functions. Next horizontal , vert ical and two

14
Chapter 2

diagonal line s thr ough the cent er ( 0 , 0) are extracted. The corr elation lengt h of each line
is considered as a dista nce between the ma xi mum
m
and
m
*e -1 . When all four are
obtained, t hey are averaged t o get t he average c orrelation l ength. Similarl y, t he period
is the distanc e from the
m
to the fir s t p eak.
To calculat e average angl e, first gradient s in x and y direct ion are c alcul ated using :
v
=(dx/dz, dy/dz) . The angl e in a point (x,y) is
φ
=atan(|
v( x , y )
|). If all
φ
are avera ged,
we get the aver age angle.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.3: AFM a nalyzer a nalysis of an etched ZnO:Al master: (a) Wind ow 1 sh owing raw AFM
scan, hei ght di stribution (left c olumn), gradi ent i n x directi on, angle d istribution (mid dle
column), autoc orr e lation, correla tion lines – horizontal, vertica l and both di agonals (right
column). (b) Wind ow 2 showing 2D FFT modulus, hor izontal a nd vertical FFT amplitud e lines
(left column), 2 D FFT phas e, horizontal a nd vertical FFT pha se lines (right column) .

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
15

The anal y si s can al s o be graphical ly present ed. Two pop-up windows with different
plot s are c reated and are shown in Figure 2.3. In the first one, the plots from which the
roughness parameter s are calculat ed are shown, and in the second the FFT analysis is
presented.

W i n d o w 1 : s p a t i a l a n a l y s i s

W i n d o w 2 : F F T a n a l y s i s

 Raw AFM scan
 Height di s tribut ion
 Gradient in x dire ction
 Angle di s trib ution
 Autocorrel ation
 1 D c orrel ation lines
o horizontal , vert ical and
both diagonal s

 2D FFT m odulus
 Horizontal and vertical F FT
amplitude l ines
 2D FFT pha se
 Horizontal and vertical F FT
phase line s

2.2.3.2 Sav in g
All the obtained data from the AFM analy ze r can be saved. By clicking butt on
“Save” a fol der with the name of the s a mple in the c urrent dir ectory is created. T he
follow ing .tx t files are created in s id e the fol der:
 AFMdat a – cont ai n s AF M scan and it s ax is
 Angle di s trib ution
 1 D Correlation – horizontal , vertical and diagonal
 FFT modul us data
 FFT pha s e dat a
 Height di s tribut ion
 St atistics
o Sampl e name
o Scan size
o Sampl e points
o
σ
RMS
o Average correl ation length
o Average angl e
 x and y l ines in Line insp ec tor
Additionall y, a .jpg fil e o f a top v iew of a raw AFM scan is creat ed by clicking on
the “Save a s .JPG” butt o n.

16
Chapter 2

2.3 Op tic al p ara me ter s of the UV N IL lac que r
Optical parameter s , such as transmittance
T
, refl ec tance
R
and refract ive i ndex
n

and
k
spect ra, have to be known when integrat ing a replic a into a devi ce structur e. The
optical losses caused by the replica s houl d be minimal. When used as a front textured
layer, a s is in our cases, i t should transmit as much l ight as possibl e and re flect as l ittle.
Figure 2.4 (a) shows typical
R
and
T
spect ra for a replica (lacquer M O -1 8 ) with f lat
surface. More t han 91 % o f light is transmitt ed and less t han 9% ref lected, me aning there
is no absorption for the wavelengths above 400 nm. Below 400 nm, how ever, there is
strong absorption of UV light . This is expect ed s ince UV light is needed to cure the
lacquers and must therefore be ab sorbed. Using measured
R
and
T
,
n
a nd
k
spectra ,
needed to conduct optical simulations, can be calcul ated us ing R & T me t hod [42] . T he
thickness of the U V N I L lacquer was in the range of 85 - 95 μ m. Obt ai ned
n
and
k
spectra
are s how n in Figur e 2.4 (b) .
n
and
k
spectra of the ZnO:Al, found in the li terature [ 43],
are also shown in t he figure .
n
of the cured repl ica (lacquer 2) is 1.55 w hich is close to
the
n
of the glass. The imaginary part
k
= 0 above 400 nm, confirming there is no
parasitic absorption in the UV NIL l ac quer for wavel engths λ > 400 nm. Note that due
to the me as ur ement system artefact at 86 0 nm, there is a sl ight error in the
measurement s. To el im inat e this error when cal culating the
n
and
k
spectra the data
around 860 nm was interpol ated.

(a)

(b)

Figure 2.4: (a) t y pical total and diffuse
R
and
T
spectra for a repl ica wit h a flat
surface. (b)
n
and
k
s pect ra extracted from
R
and
T
s pect ra for the lacquer MO- 18 (solid
lines).
n
and
k
spect ra of the ZnO:Al are al so shown (dashed lines).

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
17

2.4 M ast er vs re pli ca
First, we c o mpa re a textured master and its repl ic a. A sputtered and then etched
in HCl ZnO:Al sample was chosen as a master. S ince the s uccessful ness of the replication
process is mostl y d etermined by the fidel ity of the t exture transfer, we sho w Figure 2.5
(a) and (b) AFM scans of the master and replica, respectivel y . Crater-like feature s ,
typical for etched ZnO:Al are obser ved. Visuall y, the featur es on the scan of the master
and replic a look very s imil ar , both in lateral size and height. This is confirmed b y
roughness parameters extract ed from the AFM scans. Simil ar value s for
σ
RMS ,
l
c and
Θ
avg
confirm a h igh f idelity of the t exture transfer.

(a)

(b)

σ
RMS = 11 7.3 nm
l
c = 627.2 nm
Θ
avg = 1 9.8 °

σ
RMS =11 2.1 nm
l
c = 643.2 nm
Θ
avg = 19.1 °

Figure 2.5 : AFM scan of an etched ZnO:Al (a) mas ter a nd (b) its replica with r oughness
parameters, ex tracted from AFM meas urements, for both scans.
While the surface morphologies are almo s t identical , the optical parame ters are
very different due to master and replica being different material s . This result s in different
transmittance spectra that is shown in Figur e 2.6 (a). The master has a total
transmittance of 80%, with a strong absorption below 400 nm , while the replica has a
high 90% transmit tance with the UV absorption not as strong as in the master. The
diffuse part, however, is much more pronou nced in the master. This is also expected since
the
n
of the ZnO:Al is higher than the
n
of the lacquer (Figure 2.4 (b)) . This mean s that
when the scattered beams leave the material and propagate in air, they are scattered into
wider angles in t he ZnO:Al cas e. Higher the difference in
n
, higher the diffe rence in diffuse
spectra. This is also observed in the ADF . F igure 2 .6 (b) shows line scans, while Figure

18
Chapter 2

2.6 (c) and (d) s how 3D ADF. T he signal ADF is approximately 1.6 times higher for t he
ZnO:Al sample which i s also t he ratio in d iffuse p art (50:30) between the t wo sam pl es at
the illumination wavel ength of 633 nm . Here must be mentioned , that in an application
the replica will be coated with a TCO , which wil l bring replica ’ s opt ical properties closer
to the one s of the master.

(a)

(b)

(c )

(d )

Figure 2.6 : (a ) T ransmittanc e, (b) ADF li ne scans and (c ) a nd (d) 3D ADF r esu lts of the ma ster
and replica. Etched ZnO:Al (a) was used as a mas ter. Laser wi th λ = 633 nm was used as an
illumination so ur c e for the 3 D ADF measurements.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
19

2.5 P roces s r epr oduc ibi lity
One of the biggest advantages of t he UV NIL process is the po ssibility of reus ing
the sta mp. Fro m one master, we can create several stamps and we can use ea ch stamp
several times to create a large am ount of r eplicas. This way, not only can we introduc e
complex textures into th e devi c e struct ure , but make introduc ing tex tures into device
structure time- and cost-effective. However, thi s makes repeat ability one of the key
factors of the repl ication process.
To test the transfer fidelity after multiple replication processes, we created a stamp
from an etched ZnO:Al master and used it to create 12 repl icas. Transfe r fidel ity w as
then determined b y measur ing surface morphol ogy with AFM, tot al and diff use
transmittance and ADF of the replicas. The AF M results are pre sented in Table 2.1 .
Overall , the r oughness p arameters of the master are the highest, w ith all the repl icas
faring slightly w orse, especially repl ica 1 2. H owever, all 25 mea s urement s (5 per sampl e)
were performed using th e same tip, the order of the measurements of the samples is
stated in the tabl e. T hi s might cau s e some of the v alues being lower than in reality due
to the tip being worn out, especially for the samples at the end. For example, nint h
replica that was measured first, ha s higher
σ
RMS than both first and fifth replica.
Neverthel es s, rou ghness parameters of t he last re plica (repl ic a 12) are slightl y lower.
Table 2.1 : Roughness paramete rs, extracted f rom AFM meas urements, for a n e tched Z n O:Al
master and replicas after multiple replica tion pro ces s es (1 , 5, 9 and 12). Samples were measured
one by one, 5 measurements per sa mple we re done. Th e or d er of the AFM meas urement i s also
stated.

Sample nam e

Measurement ord er

σ
RMS [nm]

l
c [nm]

Θ
avg [°]

Master

3

115.0 ± 7.2

611.0 ± 47.5

19.6 ± 0.4

Replica 1

2

103.3 ± 7.3

636.8 ± 29.8

17.6 ± 0.4

Replica 5

5

101.3 ± 8.5

627.2 ± 26.2

17.5 ± 0.9

Replica 9

1

110.3 ± 6.5

632.2 ± 24.7

18.9 ± 0.5

Replica 1 2

4

97.6 ± 4.3

592.4 ± 29.7

17.4 ± 0.2

Light scattering measurement s are shown in Figure 2.7 . Both tran s mitt ance an d
ADF measurem ents show no real differenc e bet ween any of the replicas, fabr icated with
the same stamp. Despite the roughness parameters having lower values, all the graphs
show that scattering pro perties remain very similar even if the stamp was used s everal

20
Chapter 2

times beforeh and. This proves that a stamp can be used several times without any
deteriorat ion in perform ance.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2.7: (a) Transmi ttance, (b) ADF line sc ans results of different replicas (1, 5, 9 and 12)
created with the same stamp, (c) and (d) 3D ADF of the f i rst and ninth rep lica. L a ser with λ =
633 nm was used as an illumination source for the 3D ADF measurements.
2.6 The rm al s tab ilit y of the UV N IL lac que r
The U V NIL lacquer s are poly me r s whi ch mean s they are l ik ely to be sensitive to
high temperat ures. According t o specification s, the lacquer s should be thermal ly stable
up to 200 °C , making them suitable for some of the low temperature (deposition)
processes. Neverthel ess, we sti l l carried out some tests. 9 replicas from the previous
section were heat ed on a hot plate at different temperat ures (100, 150 and 200 °C) for
di fferent times (15 min , 30 min and 60 min) as stated in Table 2.2, 3 repl icas were not

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
21

heated (1 , 5 and 9). Sin ce the s ampl es survived without any visib le change s (rep licas 3
and 4, heated at 200 °C , turned slightly yel low), repl ic as 1 and 5 were he ated at 200 °C
for 120 and 180 min, respectively. The replica 9 was heated at 250 °C. It survived the
heating, however , on the removal from the hot plat e, the lacquer cracked, presumabl y
due to fa s t co oling of the sampl e. Lacquers, heated at 300 °C , crack during the heating.
Table 2.2 : Thermal stabilit y testing conditions f o r d ifferent samples. Temperature and t i me o f
the tes ting for each replica are stated. Repli cas 1,5 and 9 were first used as reference samples
(
t
= 0 min) a nd later use d at 200 °C (replicas 1 and 5) and 300 °C (replica 9).

100 °C

150 °C

200 °C

0 min

Replica 9

Replica 5

Replica 1

15 min

Replica 1 0

Replica 6

Replica 2

30 min

Replica 1 1

Replica 7

Replica 3

60 min

Replica 1 2

Replica 8

Replica 4

120 min

Replica 1

180 min

Replica 5

2.6.1 R esu lts a nd dis cus sio n
After the tes ting, the repl ic as were characterized by tran smi tt ance, ADF and AFM
me asure me nt s. For the temperatur es T = 1 00 and 1 50 °C there is almost no change in
tot al and diffuse t ransmitt ance due to heating. Howev er, t he sampl es that were heat ed
at 2 00 °C experience drop in total transmittanc e below 500 nm, wh ic h is then also
transferred t o a drop in diffuse transmit tance in the same wavelengt h range . Nat urally,
longer the heating , higher the drop . This can also be seen visually as the samples turned
yellow er, the longer t hey were heated. At 6 33 n m, where t he 3 D A DF wa s mea sure d, a
small change can be observed. T he 3D ADF is a bit narrower, however , the extracted
line scans are still very s imilar. Th e h eated sampl es have slightl y lower values but no
real trend can be observed. The resul ts ind ic ate that heating causes c h emical c h an ge
(yellowing) in the lacquer.
Since the tran smittance measurements only s how ed changes for the samples heated
at T = 20 0 °C, we performed AFM measure me nt s for those samples only. Th e result s
are s hown in Table 2.3 . The drop in value s of the rou ghness paramet ers increa s es w ith
the durat ion of heating . Howev er, this drop is sur prisingly small , e specially compared to
some previou s result, obt ained during ther mogravimetric analysis ( TGA).

22
Chapter 2

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Figure 2.8: Total and di ff u se transmittance (a) at λ = 400 a nd 700 nm for sa mples heated a t
di ff erent te mperatures a nd (b) for sa mples heated at 200 °C . 3D A DF of the replica s heated for
(c ) 15 min and (d) 120 min. (e) A DF li ne scans for all the samples heated at 200 °C . Laser with
λ = 633 nm was used a s an illuminati on source for the 3D ADF measurements.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
23

Table 2.3: Roughness pa rameters, extracted from AFM measurements, for the repli cas that were
heated at 200 °C for different pe riods of time.

Sample nam e

Time @ 200 °C

σ
RMS [nm]

l
c [nm]

Θ
avg [°]

Replica 2

15

105.5 ± 6.8

660.9 ± 51.5

17.5 ± 0.6

Replica 3

30

103.7 ± 2.6

610.7 ± 16.0

18.5 ± 0.3

Replica 4

60

99.5 ± 6. 3

642.8 ± 53.3

16.9 ± 0.4

Replica 1

120

97.5 ± 5.6

631.5 ± 45.6

17.0 ± 0.6

Replica 5

180

98.1 ± 7.4

670.5 ± 86.2

16.6 ± 0.3

2.6.1.1 T herm ogr avim etr ic ana lys is
Thermogravi metric analysis (TGA) was perfor med to determine the out gassing of
the lacquers during heati ng. This time a d ifferent master was used, LPCV D ZnO: B. The
replica was heated at a constant temper ature T = 170 °C and weight was measured every
15 minute s . Since the h o t plat e u s ed d oes not e nabl e simult aneous weighing, the sampl es
were briefly taken off the plate during the heat ing befor e being put on again, and did
therefore cool down a bit. The r esults of the TGA are shown in Figure 2.9 (a). Onl y 3%
of t he weight w as lost, conf irmi ng l ow dega ssing. This mean s that repl ic as can be used
in different pro cesses without contaminating the machines.
Afterw ards , morphol ogy of the mas ter, replica and heated replica were measured
using AFM. The AFM scans are s hown in Figure 2.9 and extracted roughness paramet ers
in Table 2.4. The comparison bet ween master and replica reveals excellent transfer
fidelit y . However, c ompa red to the samples discussed abov e, the change after heating is
drastic. Even vi sually th e replica l ooks melted, w hic h is t hen confirm ed by almost 25%
drop in
σ
RMS and almost 50% drop in
Θ
. I t is surprising that the samples react ed
differentl y to heating, especially as this samples were heated at 30 °C lower temperatur e.
An unl ikely explanat ion is that the t wo text ures are different and it is easier to melt
pyramid-lik e feature s wh ic h have peaks ( max ima) than crater -like features which have
valleys (minima) . I t is also possible that there is an effect of the temperature c hang e that
occurred dur ing the wei ghing. Ea ch time t he sampl e was weighted, it cooled down and
was then heated again. The lacquer at T = 250 °C also cracked only after they were
removed from the hot plat e. Thi s would also expl ain some of the re s ult s in the next
section where samples were tested outdoor and exposed to multiple c hang es in
temperatur e.

24
Chapter 2

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2.9: (a) T GA g raph of the replica heated a t T = 170 °C for 150 min. AFM sca ns of
LPCVD ZnO:B (b) master, (c) replica and (d) replic a after T GA test .

Table 2.4 : Roughness pa rameters, extracted from AFM mea surements, for an LPC VD ZnO:B
(b) master, (c) replica and (d) replica a fter 150 min of T GA at 170 °C .

Sample nam e

σ
RMS [nm]

l
c [nm]

Θ
avg [°]

Master

96.3 ± 1.2

222.0 ± 11 . 9

41.2 ± 1.8

Replica

93.0 ± 3.9

244.5 ± 23.4

37.3 ± 2. 5

Replica aft er heating

72.0 ± 2. 9

317.5 ± 18.3

22. 4 ± 0.6

2.7 Ou tdo or t es tin g of the UV N IL r ep lica s
One of the possibl e u s es of created UV N IL replicas is as a light manage ment foil
on top of the device. I n this c onfigurat ion, the fo il i s t he t op l ayer and as such exposed
to different environmenta l conditions that mi ght chemicall y alt er the layer or damage its
surface. To t est the enduran c e and durab ility of UV N IL repl icas , a set of samples was

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
25

placed on t he roof of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering , Univ ersity of Lj ubljana, next
to solar PV modul es as shown in Figure 2. 10 (a). The fol lowing samples were fabricat ed
(see Figure 2 . 10 ( c) for more det ai l s ):
 Replicas wit h flat surface (glass a s a master)
o 1 sample w ith sun/lacquer/ glass configuration
 1 part o n a white s urfa ce (slightl y in air) – (1 )
 1 part o n a dark (black) surface – (1 d)
o 1 sample w ith sun/glass/ lacquer configuration – (2 )
o 1 ref erence sa mple, kept in a cupboard – (3)
 Replicas wit h textured surf ac e (etched ZnO:Al as a ma s ter)
o 1 sample w ith sun/lacquer/ glass configuration
 1 part o n a white s urfa ce (slightl y in air) – (4 )
 1 part on a dar k (black) surfac e – (4 d)
o 1 sample w ith the sun/ glass /l acquer configurat ion – (5 )
o 1 ref erence sa mple, kept in a cupboard – ( 6 )
2.7.1 R esu lts a nd dis cus sio n
The outdoor test ing lasted three months, it began on June 11 , 2015 and finished
on S eptember 22 , 2015. During that time, t he s ampl es endured different c onditions from
sunny and hot weather (>35 °C) to heavy rain ( Table 2. 5). T heir tran s miss ion was tested
regularl y whil e AFM measurement s were perf ormed aft er 2 month s. The images with a
Flir E series therm al camera (Figure 2. 10 (b) ) were done on the last day of the tes ting,
which was a sunny day . They s h ow that the s ampl es can heat up wel l above the air
temperatur e. There is also a significant difference between the samples on a black surface
and sampl es that are slight ly in air. A s observed from the thermal ima ge, the T reached
40 °C on a black surface and around 25 ° C on a white one. During the hottest days, those
temperatur es could have been even twice as high with the high temp erature l as ting for
several hours. Additional ly, the samples with lacq uer facing do wn (2 and 5) appear to be
cooler than those with lacquer facing up (1 and 4) . The reason for that could be due to
different em issivit y of the lacquer and gl as s, t herefore the camera det ects them
differentl y. Also , the refl ectance of sampl e in gla ss/lacquer configuration i s l ess than 2%
higher t han in the lacquer/ glass configur ation an d this s houl d not result in such high

26
Chapter 2

temperatur e diff erence. Long exposure t o UV light or temperatur e also ma de samples
yellow er c ompared t o the ones in cupboard (Figure 2. 10 (d)).

( a)

( b)

(c)

( d)

Figure 2. 10 : Pho tos of the outdoor i nvestiga ted samples (a) in a testing enviro n ment at an
outdoor PV mo d ule monit oring si te , (b ) with a ther mal camera on a sunny day , (c) on a plate
with different testing positi ons d enoted just before the test and (d) samples after 42 days of
outdoor testing .

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
27

Table 2.5 : Testing d ays with d ates when the samp les from the 3- month outdo or testi ng were
measured, mea surements perfor med on that da y and weather conditi ons since the last test.

Testing day

Date

Measurement

Weather cond itions since th e last te s t

Day 0

11.6.2015

T

-

Day 1

12.6.2015

T

Sunny and warm , up to 30°

Day 4

15.6.2015

T

Hot, a l ittle rain on Sunday

Day 7

18.6.2015

T

Warm, cloudy and rain

Day 11

22.6.201 5

T

Occasional rain

Day 19

30.6.2015

T

Often heav y ra in

Day 26

7.7.2015

T

Hot and sunn y, up to 35°

Day 33

14.7.2015

T

Hot and sunn y, up to 35°

Day 42

23.7.2015

T

Hot and sunn y, up to 35°

Day 50

31.7.2015

T

Cloudy and rainy, T belo w 25°

Day 63

13.8.2015

T,
AFM

Sunny and warm , over 30°

Day 75

25.8.2015

T

Cloudy, rain y

Day 91

10.9.2015

T

Mixed weather

Day 102

21.9.2015

T
, thermal camera

Mixed weather

2.7.1.1 Op tic al m eas urem en ts
Transmi s sion measurem ents were performed o n days listed in Table 2.5 . The
selected result s for two different wavel engths (400 and 700 nm) for days 0, 1 19, 50 and
91 are shown in Figure 2. 11 (a ) and (b ) and results for each sample on those day s are
shown in Figure 2. 11 (c ) and (d). Figure 2. 11 (e) and (f) show measurem ents from day
50 and measurement s for sampl e 5, respectively . Graph s for other sampl es can be found
in the appendix . Both tot al and diff us e transmission were m easured. A fe w conclu s ions
can be drawn. The sampl es re main highly tran s parent in a broad waveleng th range and
text ured repl icas pre serve their sc att ering pro perties. However, already on t he first day
their tran smittance below 500 nm (bl ue dot s) decrea s ed significant ly. T his is attrib uted
to the yellow ing effect due to ex posure to s un UV light and high T which is even more
pronounced after longer time (Figure 2. 10 ( b) show s samples after 42 days ). After three
months, on day 91, the transmittance of the samples out door dropped even further in
the UV-blue spectrum, es p ec ial ly for the s a mples on the dark s urfac e . Reduced total
transmission under 500 nm al s o causes drop in the diffuse transmi ssion peak for tex tured

28
Chapter 2

replicas. Additional ly, t he diff use spectra are lower compared t o t he r eferenc e sample s in
the whol e wavelength range.

(a )

(b )

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Figure 2. 11 : (a) and (b) Transmittance on different days (0 , 1, 19 , 50 and 91) and (c ) a nd (d )
transmittances of the samples for wavelengt hs 4 00 and 7 00 nm. (a) and (c) show tra nsmittance
of the flat samples, (b) and (d) show t ransmittances of the textured samples. (e) T ransmittance
of al l th e textured samples on d ay 50. (f ) Transmittan ce for the sample 5 on di ff eren t days.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
29

Different test configurati ons of the replicas re sult in different behaviour. Samples
where lacquer is on the b ottom side (2 and 5 ) experienc e smaller change in t ransmission
than s ampl es with lacquer side up. Again, the sample that was on black s urfac e fare s
worse, the peak in diffuse component of the texture sample drops by 20%. This is lik ely
caused by yellowing effect and long exposure to h eat. The sample s should be thermall y
stable up to 200 °C but the long expo s ure to temp eratures arou nd 7 0 ° C for over 8 hour s
a da y might have the same effect as high temperatu res around 200 °C , mel ting the lacquer
and its text ure, making it less rou gh. The r eference repl icas (3 and 6 ) remain the sa me
except, interestingl y, the diffuse compon ent drops slightly for t he t extured replica after
day 1.
2.7.1.2 Sur fac e m orp holo gy m eas ure me nts
AFM measurement s were performed after 2 months to determine if any physical
damage was done to the sampl es. The scans in Figur e 2. 12 reveal that the sampl es with
lacquer on the top side have higher amount of def ects. The defects are rather small and
are on top of the surfa ce, att ached s tron gly eno ugh to the s urface that they were not
removed by water rin s in g. Either way, the dust particles are a real ity fo r the outdoor
application s and cannot be neglect ed or elim inated before the measuremen ts wit h m ore
thorough cleaning. For t he samples with lacquer on the bott om side, the glass act s as a
protecting l ay er . The amoun t of defects there is therefore muc h lower.
The roughness paramet ers
σ
RMS ,
l
c and
Θ
avg are presented in T abl e 2.6. The
reference s ampl es w ere taken as a benchmark s ince the y are not expected to change in
dry and dark environment. The result s are in ac cord ance with previous result s and
assumption s. The flat s ampl es w ith l acquer facing up have higher a mount of particles on
the surface than t he sampl e with lacquer f ac ing dow n. This resul ts in higher
σ
RMS and
Θ
avg . Som e of the measurements had to even b e excluded due to part icles on surface
being so large that they corrupted the measurem ent results (
σ
RMS = 1 6 0 nm for a flat
sample). For the textur ed replica s al l t he roughn ess parameters are lower when lacquer
is facing up. The samples wit h lacquer facing down fare bett er. Due to the hi gher outdoor
temperatur e and consequent ly the temperature of the sample, the value s are lower than
for the referen ce sample, however, still higher than for t he samples wit h lacquer facing
up. As discu ssed in previous section ( 2.7.1 . 1) , this i s most l ikely du e to t he s ampl es with
lacquer facing up heating up more than the s ampl es with lacquer facing dow n (see Figure
2. 10 (b)) . It is also prob able that glass facing up, prot ects the lacquer from other external
effects, such as small part ic l es hitt ing the surface and damaging the l ayer.

30
Chapter 2

(a) Sampl e 1

(b) Sampl e 4

(c) S ample 1 d

(d) Sampl e 4 d

(e) Sampl e 2

(f) Sampl e 5

Figure 2 . 12 : AFM sca ns of the samples outdoor a fter 2 months. (a), (c) and (e) are fl a t sam ples,
while (b), (d) a nd (f) are textured s amples. Name o f the sample i s state d above the AFM scan.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
31

Table 2.6 : Roughness paramete rs, ext racted from AF M measureme nts, as meas ured afte r 2
months of the ou tdoor testing for all the samples .

Sample nam e

σ
RMS [nm]

l
c [nm]

Θ
avg [°]

1

23.1 ± 5.3

343.7 ± 57.1

6.4 ± 1.0

1 d

17.1 ± 4.8

226.0 ± 30.5

5.8 ± 1 . 1

2

3.7 ± 1 . 7

180.4 ± 62.0

1.3 ± 0.1

3

6.3 ± 2.5

330.3 ± 1 08.5

1.5 ± 0.2

4

101.5 ± 5.6

584.2 ± 34.3

19.7 ± 0.2

4 d

95.1 ± 6.0

548.2 ± 77.0

19.3 ± 0.9

5

106.2 ± 4.8

592.6 ± 38.1

19.8 ± 0.3

6

115.0 ± 7.2

611.0 ± 47.5

19.6 ± 0.4

2.7.2 C onc lus ion
Fabricated UV NIL repli cas were placed outdoor to investigate how environment al
conditions aff ec t their charact eristics. Dur ing the thr ee -month test, the samples t urned
yellow . This yellowing effect was confirmed by transmitt ance mea s ure me nts which
revealed redu c tion in total transmittance below 500 nm. The diffuse transmittanc e
worsened with time and in the whole wavelengt h range. This is most likel y caused by
drop in total transmitt ance and long exposure t o h igh temp erature t hat s lo wly melts t he
text ure, reducin g its rou ghness. This was confir med b y AFM mea surements that showed
lower values of rough ness parameters for the samples exposed to higher temperatur e . For
the us e in pr actical applications, where the sampl es are exposed to s un , lacquers wit h
more s tabl e che mi cal co mposition without yellowing should be used. Nevert heless, the
replicas survived the te st withou t any s ubstantial damage, did not peel off the glass
substrat e and preserved scattering properties, though not as grea t as the reference
samples.
2.8 UV N IL r epli cas a s s ubst rat es f or TC O d epo sit ion
Light scattering phenomenon c an also be c au s ed by textured surfaces within the
device structure. In thin- fil m solar cells, the scattering layer is usuall y TCO, however,
its morph ology is connec ted and limited by the deposit ion or post- depo sition proce sses.

32
Chapter 2

To replac e the additional treatment of the TCO and exploit different morphologies, t he
created replica s can be used as a scattering layer within the device stru c tur e. As the
lacquers are not conduct ive , they hav e to be coat ed wit h a conductive layer to for m
electrical c ontact - a TCO . Nowaday s, a variety of different TCOs exist , containing
different metal oxides with various metal ratios, e.g. SnO 2 :F – FTO, SnO 2 :In – ITO,
ZnO:Al [44] – [48] . Depending on the material composition and doping, differen t
thicknesse s of TCO are nee d ed to ensure good conductivit y. For exampl e, typical
thicknesse s for FTO, IT O and Zn O:Al are arou nd 700, 150 and 500 nm, re spectively.
Since the conformal growt h can turn into isotropic one for thicker layers, thin TCOs,
such as ITO, are preferabl e for deposition on nanotex tured s ub strates if we want to
preserve the n anotexture [49], [50]. Nevert heless, s o me s cattering remain s even if the
TCO deposition on the t extured replica is so thick that the t exture on the front surface
the original replica texture is smoothen ed . I n this c a s e, the s cat tering oc cur s at the
text ured replica/TCO int erface due to their different refractive indices: UV N I L l acquer
has
n
= 1.55 and TC Os usually have
n
= 2.
Recentl y, a new mat erial, ITO doped wit h Gallium (G ITO - Ga 0 .08 In 1.28 Sn 0.64 O 3 .32 )
drew attent ion due to its promising electrical and optical properties [51] – [54]. Good
results have already been obtained with G ITO sputt ered on a gl ass s ubst rate [55], [56],
therefore we de cided to deposit it al s o on our replicas.
2.8.1 E xp eri me nta l
To test our U V NIL repli cas as (textur ed) s ub s trat es for TCO d eposition, repl icas
with two different texture types were created f ro m two different masters: 4 sample s were
made with a flat surface obt ained from glass (later referenced as tex ture A) and 4 samples
with the s urfac e as obtained from sputtered and then etched Zn O (later referenced as
text ure B ). All the s a mples then underwent a GITO sputtering proce ss , which is a
standard depo sition process f or GITO.
A Sput ron sputt ering system (Oerlikon Balzer s) with a low volt age thermionic ar c
as a s our ce of ions for sputt ering w as u sed . Subst rates (Corning Eagle glass, 1 mm thic k)
were mounted on a plane tary drive system which permi ts a double rotation of substrates,
therefore the deposition rate and thic kness reproducibil ity were better than 2%. The
target - substrat e distance is about 225 mm, meaning that th e subs trat es were out of
plasma. The s ub s trat es can theref ore be at a temperature below 100 °C or heated up

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
33

with a quartz lamp to a desired temper ature. The sputtering lasted 48 mi n at the oxygen
flow 0. 583 cm 3 min -1 and RF power 750W. Two different temperatures of deposition were
applied. First, 2 samples wit h text ure A were coated with GITO under the temper ature
of 170 °C. Despite the u sed lacquers being therma lly stable til l 20 0 °C, the two samples
looked slightl y me l ted. Therefore, we decided to use the depo s ition temperature of 120 °C
for all the other samples. More on the sputtering target preparat ion and sputt ering itself
can b e found in [55], [56] . Th e expected t hickness of GITO l ayer f or the used para meters
is around 120 - 150 nm. This was confirme d from the optical measur em ents when
determining
n
and
k
spectra, the SEM cross-section mea s ure ments were not carried out
though. For such thic kness of the deposited T C O material, predominan tly conformal
growth is expe cted [49].
Since the s putt ered GITO has less condu ctive amorphou s s tru c tur e som e of the
samples were ann ealed for GITO to crystal lize and improve c ondu ctivity [51]. Higher th e
temperatur e, more cr ystalline the GITO is. The b es t conductivit y result s were achiev ed
with GITO annealed f or 30 mi n at 340 °C [55], [ 5 6]. However, due to therm al s tabil ity of
the U V NIL lacquers, lower temperatur es are advised. Still , 30 mi n anneal ing was carried
out at 2 different temperat ures . The anneal ing at 200 °C was conducted s uc cessful ly,
while the annealing at 300 °C result ed in lacquers cracking, as they are not thermall y
stable at that temperatur e. The history of the s am ples i s s hown in Table 2.7. The names
of the s ampl es are s truct ured as: textur e and the number of the sample/ GI TO depo s ition
temperatur e/annealing temperatur e. – denot es that t he process was not p erformed.
Table 2.7: Sample list a nd GITO preparation process. The names of the samples are structu red
as: texture and the nu mber of the sample /GITO d eposition tem perature/ annea ling tempe rature.
– denotes that the process was not pe rformed.

Sample nam e

Texture

Deposition T (°C)

Annealing

A1/1 70 / 200

A

170

200 °C

A2/1 70 /-

A

170

-

A3/1 20 /200

A

120

200 °C

A4/1 20/300

A

120

300 °C

Lacquer cra c ked

B1/1 20 / 200

B

120

200 °C

B2/1 20/300

B

120

300 °C

Lacquer cra c ked

B3/120/ -

B

120

-

B4/120/ -

B

120

-

34
Chapter 2

2.8.2 R esu lts an d d is cus sion
The samples w ere pr epared successfull y, the G ITO adhered on t he l ac quers and
did not peel off even after a longer time. The thickness of GITO layer wa s estimated to
be 120 - 150 nm as it was measured for a sample w here gl ass s ub strate was coated under
the same cond itions with GIT O only (no UV NIL layer). It is harder to d etermine the
thickness of the GITO layer deposited on more complex s ub s trat es, therefore we assumed
that GITO wit h such thickness wa s also deposit ed on the textur ed substrates sample s.
To ful fill their pur pos e, the (TCO) sampl es shoul d not only be conductive
electrical ly but also opt ically. As much p hotons a s poss ible should be transmitt ed through
the lacquer and G I TO (to the active solar cell l ay er s ) wit hout being absorbe d or reflect ed.
The initial textur e s houl d also be preserved after deposition to maintain its scattering
abilities. 3 different types of measure me nt s were u s ed to est ablish the successful ness and
suitability of the depositi on process and t he fidelity of the t exture transfer:
 Sheet resistan ce measure me nt s
 Optical me a s urement s
 Surf ace morph ology measurements – AFM
2.8.2.1 She et r esis tan ce m eas ur emen ts
Sheet res istance
R
sh measurement s wer e done u s ing a RIG Mode C (A.& M. Fell)
4-probe head and a K eith ley 2602 source m eter. N on -uniform ity wa s c on s idered thu s the
measurement s were don e at 16 different spots on each sample. A ver age was then
calculat ed together with s tandar d deviation. The s heet resistanc e measurement results
are presented in Table 2.8 . As expect ed, if the deposition take s place under higher
temperatur e the s heet resistance i s low er. This can be ob served for t he first tw o samples
which have a very l ow sheet resistance under 10 0 Ω sq -1 . The ot her samp les have she et
resistivity around 400 Ω sq -1 . By anneal ing a decrease in resi s tance is ach ieved, for the
samples with lower deposition temperat ure by a factor of almost 4 . The s tandard
deviation is l ow for all t h e sampl es, impl yi ng their uniformity.

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
35

Table 2.8: Sheet resistance measurements before a nd a fter the a nnealing : 16 differ e nt spo ts were
measured per sa mple from whi ch average value and standard devia tion were calculated.

Sample nam e

R
sh [ Ω sq -1 ]

R
sh aft er annealing [ Ω sq -1 ]

A1/1 70 / 200

97,0 ± 6 ,7

70,0 ± 4 , 2

A2/1 70 /-

92,2 ± 29,6

-

A3/1 20 /200

373,3 ± 1 3, 4

118,9 ± 9,3

A4/1 20/300

381,1 ± 1 4,8

Lacquer cra c ked

B1/1 20 / 200

457,8 ± 25,5

118,7 ± 23 ,8

B2/1 20/300

404,9 ± 33,1

Lacquer cra c ked

B3/120/ -

403,9 ± 28, 2

-

B4/120/ -

427,6 ± 19,4

-

2.8.2.2 Op tic al m eas urem en ts
The opt ic al measuremen ts were p erformed befor e and after G I TO d eposition and
after annealing . So me of the most interesting resul ts are presented in Figure 2. 13 . Figure
2. 13 (a) shows t ransmitt ance of the samples with texture A. Typical GITO curve can be
observed, h owever, its peak i s defined wit h depo sition temperat ure: around 500 nm for
170 °C and arou nd 550 nm f or 1 20 °C. Higher dep osition t emperature has a big effect on
transmission, whi ch inc re as es for t he wavel engths shorter than 50 0 nm and longer than
850 nm. In- betw een t hose wavelengths, the transmission drops. The s ampl es with higher
deposition temperat ure also have higher diffu s e transm ission. This is probabl y due to the
higher depo sition temper ature which made the flat surface wavier. All the measurement s
show that the samples were relativel y uniform as the measurement s for all three s pot s
on each sample returne d similar result s (not s how n here). Figure 2. 13 (b) shows the
“evolut ion” of transmission for the s ample s wit h text ure B. Diffuse and t otal
transmittance are c ompared for bare replica without GITO, repl ica c oate d with GITO,
and annealed repl ica coat ed w ith GITO. A drop in total t rans mission due to additional
absorption in the GIT O l ayer over all wavel engths can be ob served while all t he sample s
exhibit diffuse tran smission typical f or their texture. The diffu se transmi ssion also drops
for the wavel engths shor ter than 450 nm. Similar ly to the sampl es with t exture A, the
annealing s light ly increa s es the transmi s sion for the wavelengths shorter than 450 nm
and longer than 700 nm. In -between , t he tran smission aft er anne aling dro ps. As seen ,
different temperatur es of both deposition and annealing change the transmission

36
Chapter 2

significant ly. Furt her testing with different dep os ition and annealing parameter s is
needed to obt ain opti mum optical and electrical properties.

( a)

( b)

Figure 2. 13 : Transmittance of (a) samples with texture A and ( b) “ev olution” of transmi ttance
for each step o f the sample prepa ration for texture B.
2.8.2.3 Su rfa ce m orp hol ogy m e asure me nts
The s urfa ce morphology measurements are pre sented in Figure 2. 14 , wh ere selected
AFM scan s sized 1 0 x 10 µm 2 of replicas with texture A and B befor e and aft er GITO
deposition and after anne aling are s hown . Visual comparison reve als good fi delity as the
surfaces for both types of textures look very s imi lar. Also, all the samples look defect
free, except for a few small particles on the sample A0/ -/- (Figure 2. 14 (a) ). R ou ghness
parameter s from mult iple different areas on each o f the sa mples were av eraged and used
to q uantify the texture pres ervat ion aft er GITO d eposition. The results are presented in
Table 2.9.
Bare flat replica A0/-/- shows small va l ues for all t hree parame ters . The
σ
RMS is
higher for the samples A1/1 70 /- and A2/170/- t ogether wit h the average angle, most
likely due to the hi gher deposition temperature. T he sample A3/ 120/ 20 0 had a lower
deposition temperat ure, which result ed in a low er
σ
RMS even compared to the A0/-/-. If
this is due to the anneal ing, it still has to be discovered by further testing. All the
parameter s for the tex tur e B samples have s imilar values for eac h s tep of the preparat ion.
Annealing do es not change or d iminish the s urfac e roughne ss – the t exture is preser ved.
Comparing the results, it seems that higher temper atures during the deposition can
melt the lacquer, result ing in less flat , wavy surface for replicas with texture A. However,
once G ITO is deposited , the temperature of annealing 200 °C doe s not harm the lacquer

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
37

even though this tempera ture is the border of the lacquers thermal stabilit y . It is possible
that G I TO layer acts as some sort of a protect ion l ayer. Nevert heless, once t he
temperatur es of annealing are too h igh, e.g. 300 °C, thi s protection is not sufficient and
the samples (l acquers) crack .

( a)

( b)

( c)

( d)

( e)

( f)

Figure 2. 14 : Selected AFM scans for: (a) A0/- /- , (b) B0/-/- , (c) A1/ 170/- , (d) B4 /120/- (e)
A3/120/200 a nd (f) B1/ 120/200. The a nnealing for sample A1/170/ - was don e after AFM
measurements.

38
Chapter 2

Table 2.9 : Ro ughness pa rameters, extracted from AF M measurements, for GITO samples or
replica substrate . The anne aling for sample A 1/170/- was done after AFM measu rements.

Sample nam e

σ
RMS [nm]

l
c [nm]

Θ
avg [°]

A0/-/ -

6.3 ± 2.5

330.3 ± 1 08. 5

1.5 ± 0.2

A1/1 70 / -

18.7 ± 3.7

931.2 ± 90 . 0

3.6 ± 0.0

A2/1 70 /-

27.6 ± 3.3

815.6 ± 7 6.7

4.8 ± 0.2

A3/1 20 /200

4.0 ± 0.4

795.9 ± 253. 2

2.1 ± 0.1

A4/1 20/300

Lacquer cra c ked during annealing

B0/-/-

111.3 ± 3. 2

592.4 ± 18.1

20.6 ± 0.2

B1/1 20 / 200

117.1 ± 8 .4

597.6 ± 52.7

21.5 ± 0.2

B2/1 20/300

Lacquer cra c ked during annealing

B3/120/ -

116.5 ± 6 .0

590.2 ± 42.0

21.5 ± 0.5

B4/120/ -

120.3 ± 2.4

603.3 ± 2 4. 7

21.4 ± 0.5

2.8.3 C onc lus ion
Nanoimprint ed textur es , obtained with UV NIL proce ss were used as a substrate
for GITO deposition. Th e dep osition was s ucce ss f ul which was c onfirmed wit h extensive
measurement s. The best c onduct ivity result s were acquired for GITO depo sited at 170 °C
while for l ower deposition temperature s we get higher sheet re s istance . Th e resistance is
effectivel y lowered b y annealing. AFM measurement s revealed that GIT O depo s ition
does not harm t he text ure. Both vis u al and s urf ace roughn ess paramet ers comparison
showed good matching b etween b are replicas, rep licas coated with GITO and annealed
replicas with GITO, also indicating confor mal gro wth. T he AFM result s combined with
transmittance measurem ents s how that the samp les were rel atively unifor m. Since the
deposition was done and tested only for a small set of parameter s, the conductivit y and
transmittance could still be improved .
2.9 Su mm ary
In this chapter , we present ed U V N anoi mprint Lithography . It is a repl ic ation
process of a surface text ure from a master via stamp to the final substrat e. Quality of
the creat ed replic as was determined u s ing t ransmitt ance and AFM measurement s. The
AFM me a s ure me nt s c on firmed good tran sfer fidel ity . Additionall y , a s of tware “AFM

UV Nanoi mprint Lithogr aphy
39

analyz er”, developed for an easier and fast analysis of the AFM measurement s , was
described.
The f abricated re plicas were thoroughl y charact erized. Opti cal paramet ers,
n
and
k
s pectra , needed for opt ical s imul ations were extracted. T he repeat ability of the
replication process and thermal s tabil ity of the la cquers were investigat ed. The result s
showed that each s ta mp can be used at least 12 times with very little deterioration in
performance. The lacque rs also showed low outgassing and good thermal stabil ity up to
200 °C for up to hal f an hour , afterwards the y ell owing effect o c curred . At temperatur es
above 200 °C the lacquer c racks. This makes replicas suitabl e for a broad s pect rum of
low t emperature deposition proc esses.
The fabricated r eplicas can be used in phot ovolt ai c or optoel ec tron ic devi c es. Two
different cases were investigat ed. First, i f the replicas are used as a light management
foil on top of the devices , they need to endure different environmental c ondit ions.
Therefore, a three-month outdoor testing was carried out. T ran smittance and AFM
measurement s revealed some damage to the samples . Long expo s ure to sun caused the
samples to turn yell ow, r edu c ing the tran smission below 500 nm, while high temperatur es
slightl y mel ted the lacque r, making it le ss rough and cons equently less s cat tering. Second ,
th e replicas can be used as a scatt ering layer inside the device stru c t ure. Thi s require s
an additional conduct ive layer, usual ly a TCO. I n our case, a g allium doped ITO (GIT O )
was s put tered on top of the replica. T h e measurements revealed a moderate s h eet
resistance, good transmission and conformal growth, with no damage done t o the tex ture
due to the s putt ering and annealing of G ITO.
The result s show that UV NIL is an effective to ol for replicating textur es from
masters. How ever, in a real application, the replicas shoul d withstand different
environmental condition s . For this, lacquer s wit h more stable chemical compositio n
should be used sinc e our lacquer s sh owed yellowing eff ec t wh ich deteriorat es the
transmission of light thr ough the lacquer and ther efore the perf ormance of t he device.

41
3 Or gan ic - in or ga n ic p er ov ski te sol ar ce lls
This chapter is devoted to organic-inorg anic perov s kit e sol ar c el ls. Perov skite solar
cells are a new class of solar cells that has draw n attention due to achieved high
conversion eff ic i enc ie s . Promi s ing re s ul ts have been s hown for bot h single junction and
tandem perovskit e based solar cells. In order to improve t he dev ic e performance,
especiall y that of the tandem device, light management t ec hnique s hav e t o b e
implemented as h as been shown for convention al sol ar cells. U ntil now, not much research
has been conducted on light managem ent in p erovskite s olar cell s, therefore we decided
to use perovskit e solar cells to test the light manage me nt foils created by UV
Nanoimprint Lithograph y on a concrete case. For this, we fabricated perovskite s olar
cells with in vert ed s tru cture and analyzed their performance wit hout and with a light
management fo il. E xper imental result s are su pported by optical s i mulations. The
validat ed optical model is then used to predi ct improvement s with light management
foils in bot h single junction and tand em perov s kit e devi ces.
The contents of s ect ions 3.2., 3.3 and 3.4 on experime ntal analysis and optical
modelling of perovskite single junction solar cell s w ith LM foil have been submitt ed under
the titl e “ Efficient Light Management by T extured Nanoimpr inted Layers for Perovskite
Sol ar Cells ” to t he journal
ACS Photonics
[ 5 7] . The contents of s ection 3.4.4 on opt ic al
modelling of tandem perov s kite/ s ili c on heterojun ction solar cells w ere publ is hed in 2016
under the tit le “B ack - and Front - side Text uring for L ight-ma na gement in Perovskite /
Silicon- he terojun c tion Tandem Sol ar Cells ” in journal
Energy Proc edia
[5 8 ].
3.1 Int rod uct ion
3.1.1 P ero vsk ite
The name perovskite stands for a class of compounds with a crystal structure of
ABX 3 (Figur e 3.1 ( a)) . The fir s t perov skite crystal, Ca T iO 3 , wa s di scovered in 1839 and
already attracted some res earch intere s t in the 20 th century [59] – [61] . In 1994 it wa s

42
Chapter 3

reported that halide per ovskites exhibit s emi conductor propert ies [62]. However, first
successful device fol lowed only in 2009 after Miyasaka et al. used a CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 as an
inorganic sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cel ls and s howed a 3. 8 % eff iciency [63]. A real
boom in research s tart ed in 201 2 when l iquid ele ctrolyte was replaced by a s olid hole
transport material w hic h not onl y improved stabilit y b ut also increa sed the efficiency t o
9.7% [64] and 10.9% [65] . CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 , met hy la mmonium l ead iodide, i s now a t y pi c al
representat ive of the perov s kite absorbers in pero vskite solar cel ls.
To for m a perovskite crystal structure (ABX 3 ), a geometric toleranc e factor
t
=(
r
a +
r
x )/ ( √ 2(
r
b +
r
x )) has to satisfy a c ondition 0.813 <
t
< 1.1 07 [66] , where
r
a ,
r
b and
r
x are effective ionic radi i for A, B and X ion s. F or organ ic -inorganic hal ide per ovskites
(referenced as perov s kit es t hroughout the diss ertat ion), A is a large cation
methylam moni u m ( CH 3 NH 3 + ), ethylam moni u m ( CH 3 CH 2 NH 3 + ) , fo rmamidinium
(NH 2 CHNH 2 + ) or even caesium (Cs + ). Cation B is most commonly lead ( Pb 2+ ) , however ,
tin (Sn 2+ ) can al so be use d. X is a h alide ion, e ither iodide (I - ), bromine (Br - ) or chl orine
(Cl - ) or their combinations (e.g. I 3-x Br x ). Different A, B and X combination s are possible ,
resulting in different opt oelectronic propert ies [67].
Perovskite s are excell ent absorbers of the visible light. The direct ban dgap of
CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 at 1 .55 eV corr esponds t o a sharp absorption onset at aroun d 800 nm [68]
and can be tuned by incorporat ing bro mide or chl oride ions (e.g . Ch 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Br x ) [69] ,
[70], as s hown in Figur e 3. 1 (b) . The higher the bromide content, the higher is the
bandgap. A high absorption coefficient also enabl es relativel y thin layers, in the ran ge
around 300 nm , to absorb mo s t incident ph otons w ith energies above the bandgap.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.1: (a ) Perovskite ABX 3 crystal structure a nd (b) abso rpt i on and bandgap tuning of
Ch 3 NH 3 Pb ( I 1-x Br x ) 3 by incorpo ration of the bromid e ions, data taken from [69].

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
43

Besides having good o ptical propertie s, perovskit e is also an excellent electrical
conductor as it ha s a rel atively high carrier mobil ity for bot h electron s and h oles. Elect ron
mobility was determined to be 7.5 cm 2 V -1 s -1 [71], while for the h oles they range betw een
12.5 and 66 cm 2 V -1 s -1 [ 72]. Long recombinatio n times in the range of hundreds of
nanoseconds also result in long diffusion lengt hs in the range of 100 to above 1000 nm
[73] – [75], all owing enough time to extract t he photogenerated c harg es before they
recombine.
Thanks to the excellent optical and elect rical propert ies, and extensiv e knowl edge
of organic and dye-sensit ized s olar cell s, the s olar cells based on perov skite absorber s
have attract ed a lot of interest of the scientific c o mm u nity in recent years [76] – [78] .
Extensive research resulted in a remarkable jump in conversion efficiency from 3 .8% in
2009 [63] to 22.1 % in 2016 [6], [79], whi ch is the fast es t inc re ase in effic ie nc y in the hi s tory
of photov oltaics. Beside s ingle-jun ction solar cel ls, bandg ap tuning and pr ocessing steps
at low temperatures (suc h as spin-coating) make perovskites an interestin g partner also
for tandem solar c ells wit h either silicon [80] – [8 3] , C I GS solar cells [84], o r other low-
bandgap solar cells, even perovskite [85], [86].
3.1.2 S ing le jun cti on p e rov ski te s ola r cell s
First perov skite solar cells orig inated from d y e-sensitized solar cel ls (DSSC) whi ch
needed a (TiO 2 ) s caffold to increa se the interf ace area between the dye absorber and
electron transport material ( ETM) [87]. Compar ed to DSSC, the perovskite s olar c ell s
work even if perov s kit e full y infiltrates the scaffold and not only covers it as an overlayer
[78]. Such a structure with a scaffol d is called a mesoporou s structur e and is to thi s day
still the most efficient perovskite structure. Howev er, once high mobilit y and long
diffusion length were discovered, pl anar dev ices ( without a scaffol d) have al s o beco me
very popular [88] – [ 90] . B oth structur es are s ho wn in Figure 3.2; the left s ide of each
schematic s how s a me s op orous s tru cture, and the right side a planar stru cture.
Typicall y, perovskite sol ar cells are buil t on a glass substrate ; however, flex ib le
substrat es are also possibl e [91 ], [ 92] . T he front electrode is a TCO, most commonly ITO
(SnO 2 :In) or FTO (SnO 2 :F) . The back electrode is usually either gold (Au) or silver (Ag);
however, aluminum and copper are also possibl e. In -betw een the electrod es, the
perovskite absorber is sandwiched between the electron transport material (ETM) and
the hole t rans port material ( HTM); s ome of t he most com mon ETMs and HT M s ar e

44
Chapter 3

(a)

(b)

Figure 3.2: Schematics o f (a ) n-i-p a nd (b) p-i - n perovskite solar cell st ructures. T he left si de of
each sc hematic s how s a mesoporous st ructure, a nd the right si de a planar st ructure. (c) Energy
diag ram for a p-i- n pero v skite solar cell st ructure.
listed in Table 3. 1 . The function of the ETM is to let the electrons generated in the
perovskite pass thr ough towards the electrod e whil e at the same time blocki ng t he holes.
The funct ion of HTM is to let the holes from the perovskite absorber pass through
toward s the other electr ode while at the same time blocking the electrons. The ba sic
operation principl e with char ge sep aration and energy diagram is shown in Figure 3.2 (c) .
We distingui s h between two configur ations:
 n-i-p (regul ar) configurat ion :
glass/TCO/ ETM/perovskit e/HTM/b ac k contact (Figure 3 . 2 (a) )
 p-i-n (invert ed) configurat ion:
glass/TCO/ HT M/ perovskite/ETM/ back contact (Figure 3.2 (b ))

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
45

Table 3.1: Some of the mo st popula r ETMs [93] and HTM s [94], d ivided by their organic or
inorganic or i gin a nd typical n-i -p or p-i- n conf i guration.

n-i-p

p-i-n

ETM

Organic

PCBM, I CBA

C60, PCBM , BCP

Inorganic

TiO 2 , SnO 2 , Zn O

HTM

Organic

spiro-OMeTAD , poly-
triarylamine .

PTAA, P E DOT: PSS, polyTPD,
NPD

Inorganic

NiO x , Cu I , CuS CN

Perovskite s olar cell fabricat ion is pr esented on a concrete case in section 3. 2. 1 and
schematical ly in Figure 3. 3. Just briefl y, the fab rication start s from a gl ass substrat e,
already pre-coated with a T C O . To deposit ETM and HTM, spin-coating is usuall y
util iz ed; however, s o me of the materials ca n also be evaporated. When spin-coated , the
compound i s fir st dissol ved in a solvent and then deposited by spin-coating and
subsequent annealing to remove the solvent. T h e back electrode is usual ly evaporated.
The fabri cation and format ion of the perovskite layer is slightl y different . The p erovskite
is usuall y form ed fro m two precursors , e.g. PbI 2 and CH 3 NH 3 I. Different deposition
processes then exis t , suc h as one s tep spin-coating [ 88], [95 ] , two s tep spin-coating [96] ,
sequential deposition proce ss ut ilizing dip coat ing [89] and vapor d eposition [90 ].
However, for the precur s or s to react and form perovskite crystal s , annealing or high
temperatur e (80 – 120 °C) are needed . Solvents, time and temperature of the annealing all
influence the conversion of the perovskite .

Figure 3.3: Sol u tion-pr ocessed i nverted perovskite s ol ar cell fabr i cation. On top of a glass/TCO
substrate, H TM , perovskite and ETM are sequentia lly spin -coated and annealed . In the la st step,
Ag is ther ma lly evaporated.
Sol u tion processing (spin-coating) is to date the most wide s pread and efficient
technique of perovskite solar cell fabrication. T hi s make s s olar cell fabrication s impl e and
fast (from personal experience, 8 s ub s trat es can be prepared in around 5 hours , see

46
Chapter 3

section

2.2.1 ). Consequentl y, the fabrication of high efficiency perovskite solar c ell s
should b e cheap (com plex and energy consu ming deposition devices are not needed) and
therefore intere s ting for photovol taic applicatio ns . However , to reach commercial
production of the perovskit e s olar cells, s o me questions have to be answered . The
fabricated devices are ve ry smal l (com monly in the range of 0 . 1 cm 2 , wit h the large s t
devices reach ing around 1 c m 2 [97] – [99]) w hile modul es are onl y r arely researched [1 00] –
[102]. Additional ly, lead tox icity [103] and stability of the perov s kite absor ber [ 1 04] also
present an obstacle in perovskit e solar cell use . The main c au ses of degradat ion are
ult ravio l et expos ure (mostl y connected to the TiO 2 ETM in regular structure) and
humidity [ 1 05] – [107] . De gradation can b e seen visuall y as the perovskite col o r change s,
e.g. it turn s yellow du e to decomposing into PbI 2 and CH 3 NH 3 I. Th is can happen w ithin
days or even minutes. However, due t o recent devel opments, a stabil e c o nversion
efficiency of over 20% for over 500 hours wa s achieved [79], as wel l as 6 -month stability
[108] und er appropriat e polymer c oating that down-c onvert s the UV light into vis ible
light . Additional hydrophob ic layer on the back side of the device w as also applied. This
shows t hat perov skite sol ar cel ls are constantl y i mproving and that there i s potent ial for
perovskite s olar c ells in the gl obal market.
As s een earlier, there is a large vari ety of option s for the fabricat ion of perovskite
solar cells. Mesoporous and planar structures, p -i- n and n-i- p configurat ions and different
deposition processe s h ave all b ee n exten s ivel y researched. Plenty attention has al so been
p ut on ETM s [93] and H TMs [94 ], and different A, B and X combinations that can form
a perovskite crystal s truct ure [70], [109] – [ 1 13]. Perovskite mat erial propert ie s, such as
detrimental hysteresis [ 1 14], [11 5] and crystal formation, are s ign ific ant for the device
operation. Litt le hyster esis and pinhole-free (full y covering t he surfa ce) c rystal line
perovskite films with large grains in t he order of micromete r s and a r educed defect den sity
are benefici al for the solar cell performance.
Creating an efficient perovskite absorber with large c r ystals from spin-coated
solutions, however , does not only depend on the materials and the depositio n process but
also on kinetics and dy namics of the perovskite c rystal formation (conversion) [11 6 ],
[11 7] . Different addit ives or dop ants have bee n tried in ord er to improve cry s tal growth,
wett ing properties and unifor mi ty/ ho mo g eneity of the created layers. Amongst other s ,
there are additive s such as hyp ophosphorous acid ( H P A , H 3 PO 2 ) [11 8 ] – [120], d oping ha s
been shown via metal ions (Al + ) [121], and complexing agents s uch as DMSO or

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
47

thiourea [122 ] have been reported. O n e can also use a treat ment w ith ant i - solvent s [95]
to affect t he dynamics of t he c onver sion into t he f inal perovskite fil m .
The first p art of this chapter covers experim ental work. We describe solar cell
fabrication and character ization and show performanc e re s ul ts of the fabricated devi c e s .
W e st art by analyzing t he effect of the HPA additive on the perovskit e morphology an d
electrical performance [120]. For the analysis, an inverted perov s kite device design as
shown in Figure 3.4 is utilized. We use the basic met hy l ammonium lead iodide
composition wit h organ ic ch arge selective layer s f ormed b y PTAA as HTM and PC B M
as ETM. SEM mea s urem ents ar e used to determi ne t he morphology of the device s , and
current den s ity-vol tage (
J-V
) and external quantum eff ic ienc y (EQE) measure me nt s are
carried out t o determ ine electrical chara cteristics and performanc e .
We analyze the effects of light ma nage me nt in two types of inverted (p -i-n)
perovskite solar cell s , one with PTAA and one wit h P EDO T :PSS as H TM . U til iz in g light
management (LM) foils is a n effective way to reduce optical losses. Us ing replication
techniques, su ch as UV NIL, an additional transparent layer with an arbit rary text ure
on top of t he planar tandem cell can be created that enabl es light scattering and/or AR.
Such t extured LM f oil, creat ed by UV N I L, is st udied a s an addition to the front gla s s
side of the devices to reduce the reflect ion losse s and enhance light trapping and
consequent ly increa s e t he s hort - circuit current den s ity. The short-circuit current density
(
J
SC ) is u sed as a mea s ur e to determ ine the improv em ent of sol ar cell performance .
The second half of the chapter is dedicat ed to optical model ling. 3D optical
simulat ions based on experiment ally obtained parameter s s how go od agr eement between
the experimental res ult s and the simulat ions , which validat es our optical model and
explains experiment al results of the fabricated devices. Thi s opens possib ilities for the
use of opt ic al simulations in the field of pero vskite solar c ells. Here, t he opt ical
simulat ions are used to determine losses, predict improvem ents for d ifferent textur es and
potent ia l light ma nageme nt improvement s for large area devices (solar modules) that can
be realized wit h pe rov skite solar cel ls with the fro nt surface LM foil .
A ma nu script describing the experimental analysis and the optical model ling of
perovskite single jun ction solar cells with LM foil was submitt ed to the journal
ACS
Photonics
, under the title “ Efficient Light Management by T ext ured Nanoimprint ed
Layers for P erovskite Solar Cel ls ”.

48
Chapter 3

3.1.3 P ero vsk ite /si lic on -he tero jun cti on ta nd em s olar ce lls
The perovskit e/s ilicon -heterojunct ion (SH J ) tan dem solar cell is an interesting
candidate to ex ceed the Shockley-Queisser limit [4], [123], [ 5] for singl e junction s ol ar
cells due to the high conversion efficien cy of both solar cell s [124], [125] and their
complement ary bandgaps. By tuning the bandga p of the perovskite [70] we can even
reach the opt imum ratio of 1.73 eV to 1 . 1 2 eV [ 1 26 ], [1 27 ]. T he opt ical sim ulations have
indeed shown the pote ntial in both the monolit hic 2- termin al and the 4- term inal
configuration [ 1 26], [128] follow ed by the experi mental at tempts that also show promisin g
results [80] – [83]. Co mpared to the 4-termin al device s w hich have t wo separ ate solar cel ls
stacked one above the other, the monolithic 2-terminal devices have 2 subcell s conne cted
in s erie s and processed sequent ia l ly. Series connection results in a higher volt age of the
full device since the vol t ages of the two s ubcel ls are s ummed . However, to reach the
optimum eff iciency, the c urrent of the subcel ls has to match .
Current ly, most of the experimental monol ithic tandem devices have a planar
configuration and are therefore partially limited by photocurrent generation. Further
gains in photocurrent s can be achieved by introducing structure s for light scatt ering and
anti-refl ec tion (AR) [81]. However, commonl y used random pyramid text urization of
silicon wafers is not yet s uitabl e for the deposition of thin perovskite layers when
implementing deposition techniques s u ch as spin coat ing th at gives the highest efficienc y
to dat e. An alternat ive way to redu ce opt ical l oss e s on planar wafer s is ag ain t o utilize a
light ma nage me nt (LM) foil on top of the planar tandem cell that enables light s cat tering
and/or AR.
Since the fabrication of the tandem devices is complex and expensive, optical
simulat ions are n eeded to predict and optimize the d evice perform ance before it s
fabrication. This is esp ecially important for the monolithic tandem devic es where the
currents of the s ubcell s ha ve to match for optimu m perf ormance. Despite not taking into
account electrical properties of the individu al materials and the ir interf ac es , optical
simulat ions provide a good indi c ation of the amo unt of current generated in each of the
subcell s and unavo idable optical losse s.
This is why i n the optical modelling part of the c h apter we also focus on the optical
optimization of the planar monolithic perovskite /SHJ tandem solar cell by mean s of
optical simulations. We consider three different device design s to optimize light
management : the planar device, and the devi ces with back-side and bot h -side text ured

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
49

Si wafer . LM foil s with different tex tures on top of the planar device are also considered.
For the select ed device a rchitectures, we optim ize the thickness of the per ovski te l ayer
to achieve matching currents in monolithic perovskite/S HJ tandem solar cell. T h is
current is then used, tog ether with experimental ly achievable performan ce parameter s,
to estimat e the efficiencies of the inve s tigat ed device design s.
A paper de sc ribin g optical modelling of tandem perovskite/ s ilicon heteroj unction
solar cell s was publ is hed in
Energy Procedia
, en t itled “Back - and Front- s ide Text uring
for Light-man agement in Perov s kit e / Silicon-hete rojunct ion Tandem Solar Cel ls” [5 8 ].
3.2 Ex peri men ta l
3.2.1 S am ple fa bri cat ion
3.2.1.1 Per ovsk ite s olar ce lls w ith P TAA as a h ole tran spor t m ater ial
The fabricat ed s ingle-jun ction perov s kite solar cell devices have an inverted (p -i-n)
planar structure and a layer configurat ion of
glass/ITO/ PTAA/CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 / PCBM/BCP/ Ag (Figure 3.4). T he PTAA is poly [bi s
(4 -phenyl ) (2,5,6-triment lyphenyl) amine], PCBM is [6,6]- phen yl-C61-butyric acid
methyl e ster and BC P is bathocupro ine. Patt erned I TO c oated glass ( Lumt ec,
R = 15 Ω sq -1 ) was used as a substrate. The s ub s trat e is 25 x 25 mm 2 big and has 6 ITO
pads, wit h the s ize of the individual active area being 4 x 4 mm 2 . First, the substrat es
were s equent ia l ly clean ed in ult rasonic baths using an acetone, washing solution
(Mucasol, 2 %), H 2 O and isopropanol , and th en s ubje cted to a 20 min U V-oz one
treat me nt. All the layer deposition step s were conducted in a nitrogen atmo s phere. The
hole transport material PTAA (EM Index, Mw = 1 7.5 g mol -1 ) was dep o s ited using s pin-
coating (4000 rpm for 30 s) and anneal ed for 1 0 min at 1 00 °C. Th e perov skite wa s spun
using one s tep solution proce ss and crystall iz ed at 8 0 °C for 5 min. The pre cursor solution
was created from PbAc 2 (99.9%, Sigma Aldrich) and CH 3 NH 3 I ( D y e s ol) in 3:1 ratio,
dissolved in anhydrous
N
,
N
-dimethylf ormamide (DMF, Sigma Aldrich) with a final
concentration of 46 wt%. An appropriate amount of HPA was added t o produce a 0.2%
concentrated perov s k ite sol ution. Before perov ski te spin-coat ing a pure DMF spin-coat ing
step was utilized to enabl e better wetting of the perovskit e on the PTAA s urfac e [8 2] .
The PCBM (Solenne, purit y = 99.5 % ) was dissolv ed in anhydrous chlorobe nzene (Sigma
Aldrich) at a concent ration of 20 mg ml -1 , spun a t 1500 rpm for 1 min and annealed at

50
Chapter 3

100 °C for 1 0 min. The BCP (S igma Aldrich, purit y = 99.99%) was dissolv ed in
anhydrous ethanol (Sigma Al drich) at a c oncent ration of 0. 5 mg ml -1 , spun at 4000 rpm
for 1 min and anne aled at 70 °C for 15 min. Finall y, 100 n m Ag was depo sited by therm al
evaporation (10 -7 mbar base pressure , 1 A  s -1 ) to form the back contact . A phot ography
of the substrat e wit h fabricated solar cell s is s hown in Figure 3. 6 (a). Figure 3.6 (b) s how s
the s a mple schemat ic wit h positions of 6 solar cell s per substrat e and front (FC) and
back (BC) c ontacts.

Figure 3.4: Schematic of the i nverted planar pe rovskite solar cell structu re with PTAA as HTM
includi ng the layer thicknesses , superimposed on a corresponding SE M cross -section ima ge.
3.2.1.2 Per ovsk ite s olar ce lls w ith P EDO T: PS S as a h ole tran spor t m ater ial
The PED OT:PSS based perovskite solar cells hav e an inverted planar structure
and a layer c onfigurat ion of gla s s/ITO/ PEDOT:PSS /CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /PCBM/ B CP/ Ag.
The solar cell preparatio n is the same is for the solar cells with the PTAA as HTM
described in previous section, ex c ept for the fol lowing p arts. The hole tra nsport material
PEDOT: P SS (Heraeu s, AI 4083) was depo s ited using s pin-coating (3000 rpm for 30 s)
and anneal ed for 20 min at 140 °C in a ir. All the next s tep s were cond ucted in nitrogen
atmosphere. The perovsk ite was s pun using one step solut ion process and crystall ized at
100 °C f or 10 min . The precur s or s ol ution was cr eated from 0.8 M PbI2 (99. 8%, Sigma
Aldrich) and CH 3 NH 3 I ( synthesized from HI and CH 3 NH 2 , S igma Aldrich) dissolv ed in
γ -but yrolactone (GBL) and dim ethyl sulf oxide (D MSO) in a 70:30 rat io. The solar cel l
structure and the cross-section SEM are presente d i n Figure 3 .5.

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
51

Figure 3.5: Schematic of the planar inverted pero vs kite solar cell structure with PEDOT:PSS as
HTM i ncluding the lay er thicknesses with c or resp onding SEM cross -section ima ge.
3.2.1.3 UV N ano impr int Lith ogr aphy
The UV NIL process wa s carried out in air fol lowing the s tep s as s chem atically
shown in F igure 2 .1 and explained in Chapter 2 . Just briefly, a textur ed sampl e (i) is
used as a master for the replication . A s tamp lacquer, depo s ited on a s u bstrate ( ii) , is
imprinted on the textured master. Vi scous l ac que r adj us t s to the structure of the ma s ter
and is cured under U V light ( iii) . After the s eparat ion of the s ta mp fro m t he master, the
stamp can be used as a (qua s i)ma s ter and is imprinted in the lacquer 2 (iv) that is
deposited on the substrate. UV illuminat ion cures the s econd lacquer ( v) . Once separated
from the stamp, the acq uired replica (vi) is read y for u se as a light management foil.
Thin microscope glass s lides were used as s ubstrat es for the replica, which was then fixed
on the gla ss s ide of the d evices using an index matching liquid (Norl and Products I n c. ).
For the PEDOT:PSS based sol ar c ell s , the UV NIL replica deposit ion was done directl y
on the perovskite solar ce ll. No degradation was observed due to UV curing of the lacquer
on the device performanc e. A silicon wafer with <100> orientation , etch ed in K OH with
up to 8 μm resulting ra ndomly dist ributed pyra mi d s [30] – [32], t y pi c al for wafer ba sed
silicon solar cell s [13] , was used as a master. Figure 3.6 (c ) s how s an S E M i ma ge of the
replica on a glass substrat e. Randomly distribut ed pyramid s with sharp peaks and edges
as transferred from the master are clearl y visible , confirming the success of the UV NIL
replication process. Figure 3. 6 (e) and (f) show refl ectance and transmitt ance 3D ADF
measurement s of t he etc hed Si repl ic a on glass, respect ively. L eft side of both graphs is
for l ight ent ering glass fir s t and right side for light entering t he textur ed lacq uer firs t. A
big difference can be obse rved. I f laser light passe s firs t through the textured lacquer, the
transmittance is increased and reflection is reduced, wh ic h shows good ant i -reflection
properties. If laser light pass first through gl ass , excel lent light trapping properties are
observed sinc e the transmi ssion is reduced and reflect ion increased.

52
Chapter 3

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d )

(e)

Figure 3.6: (a) A photogr aph of subst rate wi th 6 fabricated perovskite solar cells a nd (b)
schematic of the s ubstrate wi th 6 solar cells a nd front (FC ) and back (BC ) c ont a ct posi tions.
(c) SEM imag e of a replica on a glass substrate. Etched Si wafer wa s use d as a master. (c)
Reflectance and (d) transmittance 3D ADF measurements of the etched S i r epli ca on glass. Left
sid e of bo t h gr a phs is fo r laser light ( λ = 6 33 nm) ente ring glass first and right side for the laser
light entering the tex tured lacquer first. Note that the sca les ar e different due to di ff e rent range
3D ADF values for reflecta nce and transmittance .

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
53

3.2.2 S am ple ch ara ct eri za tio n
The
J-V
c urve was mea s ured using a Keithl ey 2400 Sour ce Meter Unit in inert
atmosphere under the illumination of simulated AM 1 . 5G sol ar light fro m an Oriel s ol ar
simulat or system (class ABB according to IEC 6 0904-9), adjusted with a calibrated
silicon referen ce cell ( Fra unhofer ISE). The scan r ate was 0.25 V s -1 with a vol tage s tep
of 20 mV. The maximu m power point tracking was control led by in -house writt en
LabView appl ication. Note that the solar cells were measured wit hout the use of an
aperture mask to a cc oun t for light scatt ered in and out of t he active area s as d enoted i n
the t ext. Howev er, t he go od agreement between t he int egrated EQ E spectra and the
J
SC
measured with unmask ed device s ensures a good solar simulator an d active area
calibrat ion and the absence of any edging effects. EQE was me a s ur ed as a function of
wavel ength from 300 to 8 50 nm with a step of 10 nm using an Oriel I n s trument ’s
QEPVSI-b system with 300 W Xenon arc lamp, co ntroll ed by TracQ™ -Basic s oft ware.
The illuminat ion beam size of the EQE setup is 2. 5 x 2.5 mm 2 . The external quantum
efficiency was measured without background ill umination or applied bias voltage in inert
atmosphere. The integrat ed EQE was in good ag reem ent w ith
J SC
from
J-V
. Reflection
was measured as a fun ction of w avelength from 300 to 85 0 nm with a s tep of 5 nm using
an integrating sphere with a Perkin E l mer Lambda – 1050 U V/VIS/ NIR
spectrophot ometer, calibrated with a white Spect ralon. The illuminati on beam size of
this setup i s 3 . 5 x 3.5 mm 2
3.3 Re sul ts a nd d isc uss ion
During my P hD edu cation, a special att ention w as paid on planar i nverted
perovskite solar cell s . A s chemati cs of the fabrica ted devices s uper im po sed on an SEM
image is shown in Figur e 3.4 . Hypopho sphorous acid (HPA) was tested as an addit ive to
improve t he fil m morphol ogy. The H P A serves a s a stabiliz er in H I when t hat is used as
a precur s or for the synth esis of Ch 3 NH 3 I (MAI). It s rol e is to prevent the deco mposition
of t he HI into H 2 O an d I 2 . After synthetization pr ocess, M AI is purified an d can then be
used in perov s kite preparat ion process. However, based on previou s reports a s mal l
amount of HPA c an be present in the purified precursor that can be beneficial for the
device perf ormance s ince by adding impurit ies the grain growth is s low ed down, resulting
in bigger grain sizes [ 1 20]. Result s without and with HPA additive on PTAA as HTM

54
Chapter 3

will be shown. Results of perovskite solar cell s wit h PEDOT: PSS as HT M will also be
presented.
3.3.1 H yp oph os ph oro us a cid as an ad di tive fo r i nve rte d p er ov ski te
sol ar cel ls
To establish the effect of the HPA on the device performanc e, we carried out SEM,
J-V
and EQE measurem ents of the devices with no HPA and with 0.2% HP A additive.
The top view SEM images of perovskit e without and with HPA on PTAA layer are
presented in Figure 3.7 (a) and (b) for the selected device without and with HPA,
respectivel y . T he difference in morpholog y is clear. No HPA result s in small flake -like
structures, while adding even such a small amount of HPA as is 0.2% resu lts in grains,
with sizes up to a few 100 nm . T h is is in very good agr eement with re cent finding s by
Snaith et al. [11 8] . B oth films exhibit good coverage and no pinholes.
Figure 3.7 (c) and (d) show
J-V
char ac t eristics of t he devices without and with
HPA. E ach substrat e contains 6 device s and we s how the resul ts for all 6 devices in order
to pres ent the ( in)homog eneity, each d epicted with a diffe rent color. Solid line s stand for
forward s canning direct ion ( from negat ive to positive voltages) and dashe d for reverse
(from positive to negativ e volt age). Both types of the device s , w ithout and with HPA,
have good uniformit y betw een different devices on the same substrate, with 5 out of 6
devices per substrat e working very s imilarl y and only one not working, c au s ed by
shunting. Interestingl y, c omp ared to the SEM measurements, the
J- V
characteristics
show no such difference in electrical performance due to HPA additive. The devices
without HPA have slightly more pronounc ed hystere sis and slightl y higher s pread of
open circ u it volt age (
V
OC ) , however, the devices exhibit comparable s hort-circu it density
J
SC , high
V
OC and f ill factor (FF) (see Table 3.2). The maximum power point (M PP)
tracking over 60 seconds reveals a s tabil ized power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.8%
for the sample without HP A and 1 6 .1% for the s ampl e wit h HPA (Figure 3.7 (e) and
(f)) . Both val ues experie nce a severe dro p within first second and then rela tively q uickly
stabilize at the end value.
Si nce the
J
SC of the devices in the
J-V
measurements can easily be wrongly
measured due to the solar spectrum and light source as well as device under test and
reference cel l spectral mismatch and differenc e in actual and defined act ive area, we
measure the E QE spectra, that enabl es to determine the
J
SC in addition to det ect s pe c tral

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
55

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e )

(f )

Figure 3.7 : To p view S EM i mages of a pe rovskite on a PTAA laye r,
J-V
mea surement a nd MPP
tracking of the d evices a), c) and e) without and b), d) and f) with HPA .
changes induced b y the HPA additive. The measurement res ul ts of the two bes t
performing dev ices are present ed in Figur e 3. 8 .

56
Chapter 3

Figure 3.8 : EQE s pectra of the two best pe rforming devices without (black solid line) and with
HPA (blue d ashed li ne).
Both EQE s p ec tra exhibit s imilar shape, however, the sample without HPA reaches
slightl y higher ab s olut e values w hic h fit s with t he
J
SC from
J-V
measurements. Finall y,
we calculat e the conver s ion efficienc y of the tw o best device s from bot h types, for forward
and reverse scanning dire ction. We determine the short-circuit current den sity b y solar-
spectrum wavelength integrat ion of the EQE spectra (
J
SC_ EQE ) while
V
OC and FF are
obtained from
J-V
charact eris ti cs. The conversion efficie n cy is then calcul ated by the
mult iplication of the above mention ed paramet ers. All the performan ce parameters are
shown in Tabl e 3 . 2.
Table 3.2: P e rformance para meters of the best devic es wi th PTA A a s HTM under test – f or the
forward a nd reverse scanning direction.
J
SC_EQE wa s obtained from the EQ E mea surement a nd
V
OC and FF from the
J-V
mea surement. PC E wa s t han ca lculated from the obtai ned results.
PCE from max imum powe r point track i s also added.

Scannin
g
direction

J
SC _JV

[mA cm -2 ]

J
SC_ EQE

[mA cm -2 ]

V
OC
[V]

FF

[%]

PCE JV
[%]

PCE MPP

[%]

PCE EQE
[%]

No
HPA

Forward

21.2

20.9

1.1 0

74.6

17.5

15.8

17.2

Reverse

21.1

20.9

1.09

69.5

16.1

15.8

0.2 %
HPA

Forward

20.9

20.5

1.1 0

72.0

16.5

16.1

16.2

Reverse

20.8

20.5

1.1 0

70.5

16.0

15.9

The
J
SC from
J- V
mea s u reme nts (
J
SC _JV ) to the
J
SC_EQE

deduced from the

EQE

is
in the range of 2%, relat ively which is in ver y good agreem ent. Simila r is also the
difference in
J
SC between the devices without and with HPA additive. In our ca s e, the
HPA did not affect the
V
OC
,
howev er, there is a dif ference in the FF. Due to the hysteresis

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
57

the diff erence b etween fo rward and reverse scanning direction is higher for the s ampl es
without HP A . Th e obtained PCEs of all the cases are above 15%, wit h t he highe s t for
forward scan for the sam ple without HPA (17.2%) . As the gra ins are in general better
for the de vice performa nce and s tabil ity, the addition of the HPA [88] should be
beneficial . However, despit e clear im prove ment in the perovskite film morphology, we
find only mi nor differenc es in the electrical properties of our devices without and with
HPA.
3.3.2 R esu lts wi th the li gh t m an age men t foi l
To further improve the device perfor mance, we apply an LM fo il on top of the
fabricated inverted perov s kit e solar cell s with the HPA additive and PTAA as H T M. A
similar analysis is also carried out for the perovskite solar c ell s with PEDOT:PSS as
HTM. With the LM foil, the reflection should be reduced and more in-coupled light
should result in increased absorption in the perovskite abso rber. The LM foil was created
by UV NIL process with randomly distrib uted pyramids, obtained from the silicon wafer,
as a textur e ( s ee s ect ion 3.2.1 . 3 ).
3.3.2.1 Per ovsk ite s olar ce lls w ith P TAA as a h ole trans por t m ater ial
The
J-V
mea s urement s of the PTAA based fabricated devices are present ed in
Figure 3.9 (a). The black lines represent result s of a device without the LM foil and the
blue l ines for a d evice with the LM foil . T o highl ight the absence of pronoun ced hystere s is
in our inverted devices, which agrees wel l with other inverted device s tru c t ures [131 ] –
[133], we perfor med
J-V
measurement s using different scan dire ctions, i.e. from
J
SC to
V
OC (forward s can , full lines) and from
V
OC to
J
SC (reverse scan, dashed lines), both
obtained at a scan rate of 0.25 V s -1 . The bi ggest change between the dev ices is i n
J
SC .
The
J-V
measure ments reveal an increase in
J
SC from 20 . 7 mA cm -2 to 21 .7 mA cm -2 ,
which is a 4.8% relat ive improvement for the device with the LM foil. The high open -
circuit vol tage (
V
OC ) re mained the sam e (1.11 V), while change in FF is neg ligible (70.9%
to 71.2%). O veral l, the PCE increase s from 16.3% to 17.1%, which is a 5% relative
improvement for t he LM f oil d evice over the flat device. A stabiliz ed P C E of 1 6 .1 % for
the device without the LM foil was obtained using MPP tracking under operational
co ndition s (Figure 3.7 (f )) . This fits with the PC Es obtained in the revers e and forward
scans. Table 3.3 lists

the performance parameters of the device withou t and with the LM
foil.

58
Chapter 3

(a)

( b)

Figure 3.9
:
(a)
J-V
measureme nt for the sola r cell wi th PTAA as HTM and HPA addi t i ve
without (black lines) and wi th the LM foil ( blue lines). The solid lines are forw ard scanning
di rection (
J
SC t o
V
OC ) a nd the da shed lines correspond to r ev erse scans (
V
OC t o
J
SC ). ( b) EQE
(solid lines) and
R
(d ashed lines) spectra for a dev ice wi thout the LM foil (b lack) and with the
LM foil (blue).
Figure 3.9 (b) shows the measured EQE (sol id lines) and the t otal reflect ion spectra
(dashed lines). T he bl ack l ines repre s ent the device without the LM foil and the blue
lines wit h the LM foil . Two m ain region s of change can be ident ified in the spectra: The
first region of differences is found in the wavelengt h range betw ee n 300 and 380 nm.
Here, the EQE is low er when using t he LM foil d ue to the ab sorption of UV light in the
UV NIL layer. However, the relative share of the AM1 . 5G spec tru m in this range is s mall
and account s for a current loss of only 0.08 mA cm -2 . The s e c ond region of differenc es is
between 450 nm and 650 nm, in which the EQE increa s es (compare also Figure 3. 15 (a)).
This can be attribut ed to the reduced reflection of the in cident light and improved l ight
trapping as a consequence of the LM foil, as prov en by reduction in total reflection in
Figure 3.9 (b) .
The LM foil reduce s the total ref lection (
R
) significant ly ac ro ss th e whol e
wavel ength range.
R
of the c ell stack with the LM f oil over the high EQE plateau bet ween
400 and 700 nm is on average more than 50% low er. The po s ition s of the peaks and
valleys in t he
R
and EQE spectra match well for both c ase s , without and with the L M
foil. However, onl y at the wavelengths where the reduction in
R
is the highest are t hen
translat ed to the EQE increase in Figure 3.9 (b) . In the visibl e light range
(400 – 700 n m), the E QE and
R
curves added together amount to more than 94%,
indicating small optical parasitic losses in the hol e and electron tran s porting materials
and the contact layers, and good extraction of the charge carrier s. The sum of the EQE

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
59

and
R
wit h t he LM f oil i s slightly l ower and we attrib u te this to refracted light escaping
toward s the s ides of the device. The active area of the device (4 x 4 mm 2 ) is small
compared to its thickne ss (incl uding thick glass substrate – 1.1 mm) and also to the light
spot of the EQE measure me nt setup (2.5 x 2.5 mm 2 ). Therefore, a significant portion of
the incident light, when refract ed into large angl es , escape s fro m the devic e to sub s trat e
regions without electrode s . Photogenerat ed charge s in the se region s are not coll ec ted and
consequent ly lost, result ing in the lower EQE values [134]. For exa mple, the effectivene ss
at λ = 600 n m is 42% ( Δ
R
600 = 8.84%, Δ
A
6 00 = 3.75%). This phenomenon is referred to
as “escaped l ight” and is discu ssed in more det ai l in section 3.3.3 .
Table 3.3 : Performance parameters, i ntegrated
J
SC_EQE from the EQE a nd equiva lent
J
SC loss
from the reflection measurements
R
eq of the fabricated sol a r cells wi thout and with th e LM fo i l.
Relative changes are a lso s how n.

J
SC
[mA cm -2 ]

J
SC_ EQE
[mA cm -2 ]

R
eq
[mA cm -2 ]

V
OC
[V]

FF
[%]

PCE
[%]

w/ o LM foil for

20.7

20.5

6.63

1.11

70.9

16.3

rev

20.5

1.11

70.2

16.0

w/ LM foil for

21.7

20.7

4.37

1.11

71.2

17.1

rev

21.6

1.11

70.3

16.8

Rel. change

+4.8%

+1%

-34%

0%

0%

+5%

By integrating the weight ed EQE spec tra over the solar -spe c tru m, a relative
increase in
J
SC_ EQE up to 1% is cal c ul ated (Table 3.3). Th e
J
SC _EQE agrees well w ith the
J
SC _JV from the
J-V
meas ur ement for the dev ice wit hout the LM foil, proving the
accuracy of the measure me nts (good solar s imul ator, active area calibrat ion and the
absence of any edgin g effects). The
J
SC_ EQE for the device with the LM foil is, however,
lower compared to that obtained b y the
J-V
me asure ment. As mentioned before, this i s
attrib uted to the small device area and different illumination area s in EQ E and
J-V

measurement s. Equivale nt reflection current loss (
R
EQ ), obtained by int egrating the
reflect ance spectrum over the solar-spectrum, reveal s that with the LM foil 34% less
current is lost due to ref lection when using the LM foil. I deall y , for large area devices
most of the 2.2 mA cm -2 gai ned by reducing reflect ion would be c onver ted to useful
current. The difference to the 0.2 mA cm -2 gained in the EQE measurement is attrib uted
to the e s caped light. How ever, the gain of 1 mA cm -2 in the ca se of illumi nation with an

60
Chapter 3

area l arger than the acti ve solar cell area (
J-V
measurement) is more realistic to real
module application due to the balance of light s cat tered into and outside t he active area.

3.3.2.2 Per ovsk ite s olar c ell s wit h P EDO T: PS S as a h ole tr ans por t m ater ial
The
J-V
and EQE measurement s of the perov ski te sol ar cel ls wit h PEDOT:PSS a s
HTM are s hown in Figu re 3. 10 and are presente d in the same way as in the previous
section. Again, the b iggest change between the cells without and with t he LM foil is in
J
SC , the
J-V
measurement s reveal the increase in
J
SC from 16.3 mA cm -2 to 17.7 mA cm -2
with the LM foil, which is an 8.6 % relative improv ement. The
V
OC

of our devices is
limited due to the wett ing propertie s and im perfe ct band al ignment at the
PEDOT: P SS / CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 boundary [ 1 17], [133], [ 1 35] . I ts value slight ly increa s es fro m
0.72 t o 0.74 V , whil e
FF
drop s fro m 0. 68 to 0 .66. Combined all together, the efficienc y
increases from 8 .0% to 8.6%, which is a 7. 9 % relat ive improvement with the LM foil over
the flat device. T he perfo rmance parameters of t he devices without and with t he LM foil
are stated in Table 3.4.

( a)

( b)

Figure 3. 10 : (a )
J-V
measu rement o f the solar cell without (black lines ) and wi th the LM foil
(blue lines). The s olid lines are forward sca nning direction and the dashed reverse. (b) EQE
(solid lines) a nd
R
(das he d li nes) spec tr a . The black l ines sta nd for the s ol a r cell wi th out t he
LM foil (flat) and blue lines for the solar cell wi th the LM fo i l.
The introduct ion of t he LM foil reduce s the refle ction significantl y a cross in the
whol e wavelengt h range. T he increase in t he EQE is again l ower than t he reduction i n
the
R
due to the escaped light. However , c om pared to the PTAA device, the EQE
increase is higher here. This is most likely due to a thinner perovskite absor ber benefiting
more from the L M foil (see Figure 3. 17 for the thickness an alysis of the PT AA devi ces).

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
61

By s olar- s pe c tru m weight ed wavel ength integration of the EQE results , increa s e in
J
SC_ EQE up to 4.6% is calculat ed (T abl e 3.4 ). T h e values are lower compared to those
obtained by t he
J-V
measurement. As mentioned before, this i s attribut ed t o the small
device area and different ill umination areas in EQE and
J-V
meas ur ements. Equivalent
reflect ion current loss (
R EQ
), obtain ed by solar-spect rum weighte d wavelengt h
integration of the r eflectance spectrum, s how s that with the LM foil 43 % less current is
lost due to refl ection.
Table 3.4 : Performance pa rameters, i ntegrated
J
SC_EQE from the EQE and equiva lent
J
SC loss
from the reflecti on measu rements
R
eq of the fab ricated solar c ells before and after UV NIL
depositi on. Relative chang e is also shown.

J
SC
[mA cm -2 ]

J
SC_ EQE
[mA cm -2 ]

R
eq
[mA cm -2 ]

V
OC
[V]

FF
[%]

PCE
[%]

w/ o LM foil for

16.1

15.1

8.79

0.72

66.9

7.74

rev

16.3

0.72

68 .3

8.02

w/ LM foil for

17.5

15.8

4.98

0.74

65 .1

8.46

rev

17.7

0.74

66.0

8.65

Rel. change

+8.6%

+4.6%

-43%

+2.8%

-2.9%

+7.9%

3.3.3 C onc lu sion s
We analyzed the effect of the hypophosphoro us acid ( H P A) additive on the
morphology and electric al performan ce of the perovskite s olar c ell s follow ing previou s
reports. We adopted a spin-c o ating process to fabricate devices with inverted device
architecture. For improving the film crystal lization, a 0.2 % concentrat ion of HPA was
added to the perovskit e solution before spin-coating. The fabricated solar cell exhibit
high eff iciencies above 15% for both cases, withou t and with H PA. Morphology
measurement s s howed that adding HPA result s in bigger grains in perovskit e layer which
is in agreement with the literature. However , the electrical performan ce was largely
unaffected wit h lower hy s tere sis b eing the only observed impr ovement due t o HP A .
W e have also present ed and an alyze d a light management opt ion for perov s kite
solar cells. A l ight management (LM) foil was fabr icated b y UV Nanoimprint
Lithography process and attached on top of the device using index matching liquid .
Inverted perovskite solar cell s ( p-i-n) with an efficiency of 16.3% and negligib le hysteresis
have been fabricat ed to t es t t he effect of the LM foil. The mea s urement s w ith the LM

62
Chapter 3

foil reveal an increase in efficiency to 1 7. 1 % , which represents a 5% relat ive enhance me nt .
The improvement in the performan ce can be con tributed mainly to the increa s e in the
short-circuit c urrent density of 4 .8%, as det ermined from
J-V
measure ments. A similar
analysis was done also for the perov skite solar cell s with P EDO T :PSS as a hole transport
material. Again, the measurements s h owed an improvem ent in performa nce, the 8.6%
enhancement in short-cir c uit current density transl ated to a 7.9% enhan cement in power
conversion efficiency. This demonstrat es the benef ic ial role of the LM foil on dev ic e
performance.
3.4 Op tic al m od ellin g
Optical mod elling is a useful tool t o inve s t iga te w here the further improvements in
the device performanc e (EQE and
J
SC ) lie and to provide an insight int o changes in
parasitical optical lo ss distribut ion. T his way we can optimize device performance or
establish where t he l imits are . Optical modell ing is al so a cost- and t ime-effective w ay of
predicting and quantifying the potential im pro vements in the performance du e t o
modification s in the device structur e without spending money and time to fabricate the
device.
To conduct optical simul ations, 3D Optical simulat or CROWM by Benjamin
Lipovšek et al. [1 34], [136], [137] whi ch is ba s ed on combin ed ray and wave optics model
is used. It enabl es us to correctly simulat e a stack of an arbitrary num ber of thin and
thick layer s , as is the case in our fabric ated dev ices. We u se optical simulations to reveal
why the differences betw een the enhance me nt measured in EQE and
J
SC , and to establish
the potent ial benefits of the LM foil: what is t he potential increase for the large-area
device and if the LM fo il is benefici al even for the highest p erforming dev ic es. W e also
test different textures to determine which one performs best. Optical s imul ations are also
used to inve s tigat e t he potent ial of tandem perovskite/ s ilicon-het erojunction s olar cel ls.
3.4.1 O pti ca l si mu la tor C RO W M
CROWM simul ator is based on c ombin ed ray and w ave optics model s that enabl e
simult aneous simulation s of both segments of the dev ice, text ured thick LM foil
(incoherent light propagat ion) and thin-film solar c ell stack (coherent light propagation).
Wave opt ics model , based on tran s fer matrix al gorithm, is used to simul ate t hin layers

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
63

(coherent light propagation) in the solar cell s tack, while non -coher ent ray tracing
approach is used for thic k layers (> 1 μ m) – glass sub strate and LM foil (and c-Si wafer
in tande m dev ic e s ). The main out puts of the simulator are tot al refl ec tance ,
transmittance and ab sorptance in each layer. Their sol ar -spectru m weighted w avelength
integration equals to the
J
SC or equivalent current loss in the individual layer. The
simulat ions w ere carried out in the wavelength range from 350 to 8 00 nm , wh ic h is a
sufficient range for the singl e ju nction perovskite solar cells, and in the wavel ength range
from 350 t o 1 200 nm for the tandem d evices.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 11 : (a)
n
a nd (b)
k
spec tra of the of the materials emplo yed i n the simulated solar cell s.
3.4.2 M od el v ali da ti on
To make any relevant conclusion s from t he results of the optical s imul ations, we
need t o validate the optical model using real istic experimentall y obtained parameters ,
such as thicknesses of the layers and their
n
and
k
s pectra . The thicknesse s of the
individual layers ar e esti mated from the cross -sect ion SEM i mage and are 140 nm for
ITO, 5 nm for PTAA, 270 nm for the perovskite absorber, 50 nm for P CBM, 5 n m for
BCP and 1 00 nm for Ag as shown in Figure 3.4 . The fabri cated solar cells also exhibit
low roughnesses which enable successful matching with our simulations that ass um e
planar int erfaces. When simulat ing devices w ith the LM foil , we set t he thickne ss of the
LM foil to 50 μm and apply texture profile on the front s urfac e. To inc l ude a realistic
text ure in the s imulat or, the texture profil e of the random pyramids wa s measured using
AFM. T he wavel ength-dependent
n
and
k
spectra needed to conduct the simulations
were obt ained u sing refl ectance/transmit tance ( RT) met hod [42] and from the l iterature
for spiro-OMeTA D [12 8 ] and perovskit e ab s orber [1 38 ].
n
and
k
spectra of the materials

64
Chapter 3

employed in the fabricated and s imul ated single junction devices are s how n in Figure
3. 11 .
Additionall y, both the dev ic e area and t he illumina tion beam size were set to actual
experimental val ues, w hich is necessary to get comparab le r esults ( and is as w e w ill see
the main reason for small increa s e in the EQE and
J
SC ). Such c a s e, in which the realisti c
geometrical dimension s are taken into acc ount , is referred to as a “confined ” d evice. For
our device s, the confine ment (geometric al dimensions) was 4 x 4 mm 2 for the device area
and 2.5 x 2.5 mm 2 and 3.5 x 3.5 mm 2 for the EQE and
R
ill umi nation s pots, respectivel y.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 12 : C omparison of the EQE (soli d) a nd
R
(das hed) between expe riment (black) and
simulations (blue) for a PTAA based devi ce (a ) w ithout and (b) with the LM foil. I n the cas e
with th e LM foil, we dis tinguish in si mulations betwee n con fined device (blue) and unconfined
device (r ed ).
The compari s on bet ween measured (bl ac k line s ) and simulated (bl ue lines)
EQE/absorpt ance (
A
) and
R
is presented in Figure 3. 12 (a) and ( b) . It is assumed that
all the absorbed photon s result in charges that c an be collected under short circuit
conditions [139] and is proven by the good m atch between t he measured EQE

and
A

(solid lines). A good match is also obtained bet ween the
R
curves

(dashed l ines) for both
cases, w ithout a nd with the LM fo il. Ther e are, however, slight discrepancie s in terms of
shape and val ues due to interferences (at 580 and 650 nm) from the thin layers, which
are s light ly less pronoun ced in the me a s ur em ent s. This is due to a slight roughness of
the perovskit e absorber that reduces interferences wit hin the device whil e simul ations
assume planar interfaces. In the case w ith the LM foil, the text ured front s urface redu ces
interference s due to the refracted light beams now having different optical paths, thus
also losing constant phase difference. Consequen tly, interference peaks are diminished

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
65

and the simulation compares better to the experiment. Compar ing the simul ated
integrated absorption spectra
J
SC_S IM , the increa s e is from 20.5 mA cm -2 for the flat
device to 21.1 mA cm -2 for the confined device wit h the LM foil , which is similar to the
measured v alues.
The comparison between experiment and simulatio n was also done for the anal y zed
solar cell devices with PEDOT:PSS as an HTM. The results are presented in Figure 3. 13 .
The thic knesses for the model were extracted fro m the S E M cross-sec tion image and are
as fol lowing: 140 nm for ITO, 50 nm for PEDOT: PSS, 200 nm for perovskite absorber,
60 nm for PCBM, 5 nm for BCP and 100 nm for Ag. Again, there is a good match
between experiment s and simulations. The absolute values for the EQE and
A
spectra
do not mat ch as wel l as for the PTA A solar cell s , which in dicates worse photogenerat ed
carrier extraction. Howev er, both spectra have similar shapes, also the match between
measured and simulated ref lectance spectra is very go od.

( a)

( b)

Figure 3. 13 : C omparison of the EQ E (s olid) a nd
R
(d ashed) between experimen t (black) and
simulations (b lue) for a PE DOT:PSS based d evice (a) wi tho u t and (b) wi th the L M foil. In the
case wi th the LM foi l, we d istinguish in simulatio ns betwee n confined d evice (blue) and
unconfined d evice (red).
Finall y , we apply our optical model also on a monolithic planar perovskit e/SHJ
tandem solar c ell, present ed by Alb recht et al. [129]. The perovskite s olar c ell, on top of
a typ ical SH J solar cell, has an inverted structur e. MoO 3 w as evaporated on top of t he
spiro-OMeTAD HTM to protect it from t he ITO sputt ering pro cess. The devi c e
schematic is shown in Figure 3. 20 (a), wher e also all the layer thickne sses are s tat ed. The
thicknesse s of spiro-OMe TAD and perovskit e layer, however, w ere ext racted from the
SEM image and are 3 00 and 500 nm, respec tively. Th e compari son between the

66
Chapter 3

experiment and s imul ation is s hown in Figure 3. 14 . The match is again good, especial ly
when considerin g that t he tande m devices have more com pl ex s truct ure with more
parameter s and ar e therefore more prone to any deviations.

Figure 3. 14 : C omparison of the EQE ,
A
and
R
between experi ment (solid ) a nd si mulations
(dashed ) for a monolithic plana r perovskite/SHJ tandem solar cel l . Perovskite
A
is d enoted with
black, c-Si with blue and
R
with red color.
Foll owing this result s , we believe that our optical simulations describe our solar
cell struct ure well , theref ore validating the optical model and making it f irst successful
perovskite experiment - versu s -simul ation study conducted. Since the r es ult s are based o n
experimental ly obtained parame ter s, the optical model can be used for furt her analys is,
as well as for other device s tru c tur es (provide d that
n
and
k
spectra are known) ,
configuration s and t exture optimizat ion.
3.4.3 O pti ca l an aly si s o f si ngle ju nc ti on p er ov ski te s ola r c ell s
3.4.3.1 Lar ge a rea dev ice a nd l oss an alys is
First, we use the validat ed optical model to investigate the expected improv em ents
for large devices, relev ant for practical applicat ions in solar modules. Since such devices
are much larger than our test device, it is now assumed in the simulations that the active
area has infinite lat eral dimen s ions in both directions and we refer to this as an
“unconfined” device . K eeping the same input parameter s , the increa se in simulated
current
J
SC_SI M du e t o t he LM foil is 11 .2% (2.3 mA cm -2 , see Table 3.5). This means
that the large area devices woul d benefit mor e fr om t he LM foil t han t he test device.
The
A
and
R
c urve s are pl ot t ed in Figur e 3. 12 (b) with red lines. The simul ations s how
the largest increase in the wavelengt h region around 580 nm. This is also where the

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
67

highest increa s e in the EQE wa s me asur ed. A dditionall y, compared to the confined case,
there is an incre ase in the absorpt ion for t he long er wavelengt hs that is typical for other
solar cell types. I n the unconfined case, the longer wavelengt hs have more passe s through
the ac tive layer and are thus more likel y t o be absorbed while f or the
confined/ex perimental cas e a high amount of long wavelength light leaves the active area
before being absorbed. The
R
spectra for the unconfined and confined case are ver y
similar, the
A
is, howeve r, lower for the confined device over the whole spectrum. This
confirms our conclusion from the EQE study that in small devices a high amount of light
escapes the devi ce area d ue to the refra ctions in t he LM foil.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 15 : (a) Spectral loss analysis for the (unconfin ed) device without and with the LM foil
and an absorber th i ckness of 270 nm . Integrated values are shown in Table 3.5 . (b) Comparison
of the optical losses for the confined and unconfined PTAA based d evice . The escaped lig ht i s
almost the sa me to the di ff e rence between a bsorption i n the perovskite for the con fined and
unconfined d evice .
Figure 3. 15 ( a) displays the absorption s pect ra of the individual layers for the
(unconfined) device with out and wit h t he LM foil. Most of the incident light is ab s orbed
in the perovskite absorber while the main parasit ic loss c an be attributed to the total
reflect ion and absorption of the layers located above the perovskite in the U V and blue
spectrum. The LM foil reduces the reflection over the whole anal yze d s pect rum. Similarl y
to the experimental resul ts presented abov e, the simulated equival ent reflection c urrent
density loss
R
SIM is reduced by almo s t 50%. Most of the gained in -coupl ed l ight
contribut es to the useful current density in the absorbing perovskite layer, with an
increase in the simulated photocurrent density of 11.2%. The additional abs orption due
to the LM foil in the other layers is negl igi bl e. The solar -spectru m weighte d wavel ength
integrated absorp tances of all the layers are shown in Table 3.5. Figure 3 . 15 (b) compare s

68
Chapter 3

losses b etween conf ined and unconfined device. No pronounced difference other t han the
escaped light can be observed. The escaped light is almost the same to t he difference
between absorpt ion in perovskite for the c onfined and unconfined devi ce (a (very) small
difference i s a resul t of the absorption in the ot her layers ) . Mo s t of thi s refracted light
escapes the dev ice ar ea al ready in the glass s ub s trat e due to its rel ative l arge thickne ss
(1.1 mm) compar ed to t he device ’s active area (see Figure 3. 15 (b)). Th is shows that
when having small area devices, such as our fabri c ated ones, the glass sho uld be as t hin
as possible.
Table 3.5: Simulated current
J
SC_SIM [mA cm - 2 ] that is produced in the perovskite absorber layer,
lost a s parasiti c absorption i n the other l a yers, or lost vi a reflection under AM 1.5 G illumination
for an unc onfined PTAA bas ed devic e for the thickne sses a s stated in Figure 3.4. The s pectra
for these two cas es are presented in Figure 3. 15 (a).

Texture

Reflection,
R
SIM

ITO

PTAA

Perovskite ,
J
SC_S IM

PCBM

Ag

Flat

5.78

0.44

0.07

20.5

0.16

0.22

LM foil

3.24

0.50

0.08

22.8

0.16

0.30

Change

- 2.55

+ 0.06

+ 0.01

+2.3 (1 1%)

+ 0

+ 0.0 8

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 16 : (a) EQE of the P TAA based device f a br i cated on a thinner substrate (700 μm ) . (b)
J
SC for different acti ve area sizes of the device. The dashed line represents referenc e (simulated )
flat d evice. The bea m spot size was 2.5 x 2.5 mm 2 . Th e fabrica ted s olar cell active a rea is 4 x 4
mm 2 .
For compari son, Figure 3. 16 (a) and Table 3. 6 show resul ts for a d evice fabricat ed
on a t hinner sub s trat e (0.7 mm). Overal l, thi s de vice perf orms slightl y worse, howev er,
the increase in the EQE is higher due to the i ncrea s ed amount of light reaching the

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
69

perovskite absorber and n ot exiting the cell (in the glass substrate) . This is al s o confir med
by optical simulation s , w hich also reve al that for the unconfined device t he performanc e
is the same as for the device with a thicker glass s ubstrat e. To fully harvest the
improvement s of the LM foil, a device with aroun d 10 times bigger area is needed for the
same beam spot (Figure 3. 16 ( b) ).
Table 3 .6 : Experime ntal and simulated
J
SC values fo r the PTAA ba sed d evice with a thinne r
glass substrate (0.7 mm), wi thout and with the LM foil.

Experiment :

J
SC_ EQE [mA cm -2 ]

Simulat ion
,
confined:

J
SC_S IM [mA cm -2 ]

Simulat ion
,
un confined:

J
SC_S IM [mA cm -2 ],

w/ o LMF

18.6

20.5

20.5

w/ LMF

19.2

21.5

22.8

Change

+3.2%

+4.9%

+11 .2%

3.4.3.2 De vices w ith d iffere n t th ickne sses of per ovsk ite a bs orbe r
Second, the
J
SC_S IM enhancement due to the LM foil was also d etermined for devices
with different p erovskite absorber thicknesse s . These d evices might benefit less or not at
all since the effect of t he prolonged optical pat h of the obl ique light beams aft er refraction
at the front surface might be negl igi bl e due to the thicker ab s orber. Figure 3. 17 shows
J
SC_S IM (solid lines) and
R
SIM ( da s hed lines) for perovskit e layer thicknesses between
50 nm and 1 000 nm without (black) and with the LM foil ( bl ue ). The red li ne show s the
relat ive enhancement and the vertical dashed lin e the case for the perovskite absorber
thickness of 270 nm inve s tigated above. The
J
SC
_
SIM in c rea s es onl y slowl y for perov s kite
thicknesse s above 70 0 nm in bot h cases, witho ut and with the LM foil. A small
interference effect is observabl e, which dimini shes with increa s ing thickness of the
perovskite absorber. The
J
SC _S IM increases with the LM foil for all thicknesses of the
absorbing l ayer. Thu s, even devi c e s that have a very thi ck perovskit e absorber layer s
generating a very high photocurrent density s h ould benefit using the LM foil. For
example, a devi c e with a 1 μm t hick perovskite ab s orber s til l s hows a 1.7 mA cm -2 (7 .8 %
relat ive) increase with the LM foil. This is the case becau s e the reduction in reflection
and l ight trapping in the layers above t he perov skite absorber remain reg ardless of the
absorber thickne ss . The u sage of the LM foil is therefore also benef icial for thick er device s.

70
Chapter 3

Figure 3 . 17 : Left axi s:
J
SC_SIM (solid) and
R
SIM (das hed) for perovskite a bsorber thic knesses from
50 nm t o 1000 nm for a PTAA based device . The 27 0 nm thi ck perovskite abs orber case is
marked with a d ashed line. The points were the flat and the textured device reach 20 mA cm -2
are denoted wi th crosses. Right a xis: the d ark red line represents the relative
J
SC_SIM
enhancement.
3.4.3.3 V OC e nhan cem en t
Third, we calculate the potential theoret ic al increase in
V
OC due to the higher
carrier den sity. This c an be a chieved when u sing the LM foil t o create the same a mount
of photocurrent density at s ign ificantly reduced active layer thi c kness , thereby enhancing
the generated carrier density [ 1 40]. Sinc e
V
OC is affected by generation and
recombinat ion, an enhanced gen eration rate (the same nu mber of charges per smal ler
volume) ha s the potent ial to enhance the
V
OC . Using the equat ions (equations 3 and 5 in
the paper) and parameters presented b y Leijten s et al. [140], w here they show how the
recombinat ion d y na mi cs of perovskite s olar cells is do minated by long live d hol es and
trapped electrons with strongl y reduced trap mediated recombination (elec tron l ifetime:
τ n
= 100 ns, long lived h ole lifetime:
τ p
= 10 μs), we calcul ate a potential
V
OC increa se
of 36 mV (Equation (3.2)) .
First, from the recombin ation rate equation (Equ ation (3.1)) , t he different charge
carrier lifetim e g ives us the ch arge carrier densit y ratio:

𝑅 = 𝑛
𝜏 𝑛 = 𝑝
𝜏 𝑝 → 𝑝 = 𝜏 𝑝
𝜏 𝑛 𝑛 = 100 𝑛

(3.1)

Second, the current den sity is kept constant (2 0 mA cm -2 ) but the thic kness is
changed to achieve such c urrent – 130 nm in the ca s e w ith the LM foil and 260 nm
(
d
2 =2
d
1 ) in the case without the LM foil (denoted with the crosses in Figure 3. 17 ) giving
us the concentrat ion ratio between t he two cases 𝑛 1 = 2𝑛 2 (i n t he calcul ations, index 1

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
71

stands for the case with the LM foil while index 2 for the case withou t ). For the
V
OC
enhanceme nt we t hen g et:

∆𝑉 𝑂𝐶 = 𝑉 𝑂𝐶 1 − 𝑉 𝑂𝐶 2
= 𝐸 𝑔1 + 𝑘𝑇 ln 𝑛 1
𝑁 𝑐 + 𝑘𝑇 ln 𝑝 1
𝑁 𝑣
− (𝐸 𝑔1 + 𝑘𝑇 ln 𝑛 2
𝑁 𝑐 + 𝑘𝑇 ln 𝑝 2
𝑁 𝑣 ) =
= 𝑘𝑇 ln 𝑛 1 𝑝 1
𝑛 2 𝑝 2 = 𝑘𝑇 ln 2𝑛 2 ∗ 2 ∗ 100 𝑛 2
𝑛 2 ∗ 100 𝑛 2 = 𝑘𝑇 ln 4 = 36 𝑚𝑉

(3.2)

This indicate s another benef it of the LM foil – beside s increa sing the
J
SC , the
V
OC
can also be enhanced by using thinner active layers to enhance the c h arge carrier densit y.
3.4.3.4 Diff eren t te xtu res of th e l ight man a g em ent f oil

(a)
p
= 9 μ m,
h
pp = 6 .4 μ m

(b)
p
= 9 μ m,
h
pp = 6 .4 μ m

(c)
p
= 9 μ m,
h
pp = 5. 5 μ m

(d)
p
= 9 μ m,
h
pp = 5. 5 μ m

Figure 3. 18 : C onsidered 4 different tex tures of the LM f oil: (a) regular pyramid , (b) cornercube,
(c) convex parabolic O text ure and (d ) concave parabolic U texture. Pe riod
p
and height
h
pp o f
the textures are a lso stated.

72
Chapter 3

Finall y , we simulat e the expected improve men ts for various possible t extures of
the LM foil for the perpendicular incidence of light. B eside s randomly distribut ed
pyramid s , periodical ly distribut ed regular pyramids , cornercubes and parabol ic micro-
lens text ures were investigated. Such textures can be fabricated experiment ally and have
also been investigat ed using optical simulations [137] , [ 1 41], [142] . T ex tures for our
simulat ions were created artificiall y , their imag es as export ed from CROW M are shown
in Figure 3. 18 . T o ensu re relevant comparison , the textur es were s caled to the s ame
period of 9 μ m. Three dif ferent thicknesses of the pero vskit e absorber wer e c on s id ered:
200, 270 and 600 nm. The thickn esses of the ot her layers were as stat ed earlier.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 19 : (a )
J
SC_SIM and (b)
R
SIM for the PTAA per ovskite solar cel ls for different text ures
and di ff eren t perovskite abso rb e r thicknesses.
The simulat ion re s ult s o f the
J
SC _SIM and
R
SIM are presented in Figure 3. 19 . As
expected, all the textures proved to be beneficial for the devic e performance compared
to t he flat reference without an LM f oil. It is also noticeable that t he increase in
J
SC_SI M
is s maller for thic ker ab sorbers. The best perfor ming t exture for p erpendicul ar incident
of light by far is cornercub e, while the worst are regular py ra mi d s . There is not much
difference between parab olic tex tures and rando m pyramids. Her e, it is also clearly se en
that the redu c tion in
R
is directl y tran sferred to t he increase in
J
SC .
3.4.4 O pti ca l an aly si s o f t and em p ero vs kit e/si lic on-h e ter ojun c tion
sol ar cel ls
After analyzing the perov s kite single-junction devices, we turn our attent ion to
tandem devices that c an theoreticall y overcome the efficiencie s of the s ingl e junctio n
solar cells . For the purpose of this study, we base our optical simulat ions on the

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
73

monolithic planar perovsk ite/silicon- h eterojuncti on ( SH J ) tandem solar cell s hown in
Figure 3. 20 (a) and present ed and fabricat ed by Albrecht et al. [ 1 29] . I n the proposed
configuration , the top c ell is a perovskite s ol ar cel l wit h t he bandgap of 1.5 4 eV a s found
in the literature [13 8 ] and in agreement with the quant um efficienc y measurement .
Despite being 0.19 eV away from the opt imum bandgap [126], this s houl d s til l result in
high efficienc ies and the effect of different tex tures can be translat ed t o the ca s e w ith a
slightl y higher perovskite bandgap. Since the SHJ solar cell is already well optimized, we
keep its structur e as a constant and only focus on the perovskite absor bing layer to
achieve the highest possible current ma tching point. Again, CROWM was used to
conduct opti cal simulatio n s.
We consider three main ca s e s in our simul ations as shown in Figure 3. 20 . Figure
3. 20 ( a) s how s the pl anar device [129]. Derive d from thi s structure, t here are three ma in
possibilit ies of im plem enting textur ed s urfaces to cause light scattering. Option 1 is to
start with a one-side textured silicon wafer and deposit the lay ers on the text ured surfac e
to wards the bott om conformall y, whil e d epositing the layers to the top a s in the planar
device (Figure 3. 20 (b) ). Option 2 is to s tart from the both-side textur ed s ilico n wafer
and deposit the rest of th e layers conformall y on both sides of the wafer ( Figur e 3. 20 (c) ).
This way t he original text ure from the Si wafer is preserved to the t op (under cond ition
that non-conformal growt h is not taking place [4 9]). This is b elieved t o b e the route to
the most efficient tandem devices. However, such d evices are currently not feasibl e, since
spin-coating a s the mo s t common and efficient deposit ion technique of the perovskite
layers to date is not suitabl e for the high roughne ss of the randomly distribu ted pyramids
of t he textur ed Si wafer. Nevertheless, in t he simul ations we assume the texture of the
Si wafer to be rando mly distributed pyramids with up to 8 μ m in size (same texture on
both s ides when s imul ating t he bot h- side text ured device) as s hown in Fi gure 3.6 (b) .
Additionall y, we also co ns ider an attractive opti on of putting an LM foil on top of a
planar device as s hown in Figure 3. 21 . For our anal ys is of the LM foil , we simulat ed
random pyra mids and 4 other text ures s ince UV NIL process allows us to use a textur e
of our choic e ( as long as a master with the same text ure can be provided). I n thi s case ,
LM foil (
n
= 1 .55) replaced t he LiF (
n
= 1.39) AR c o ating used in the other cases . As
the analysis of the dev ices w ith t he t extured surfaces requires much compu tational t ime,
we decided to keep the thicknesses as s hown in Figure 3. 20 (a) and only alt er the
perovskite absorber thic kness in order to reach the current matching point. Co mpared
to the report by Filipič et al. [ 1 28] we performed the simulat ions for the back-side texture

74
Chapter 3

and different textured L M foils, and compared to Albrecht et al. [12 6 ] we considered
text ured interfaces in our s truct ur e, al beit not for the opt im um perov skite bandgap.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 3. 20 : Schemati c i llustration of the investig ated ta ndem perovskite/SHJ dev ices, built on
(a) planar, (b) bac k-sid ed and (c) both-sid e d textured Si wa fer.
3.4.4.1 Re sults and dis cus sion
The result s of the optical s imul ations for the three cases depict ed in Figure 3. 20
are presented in Tabl e 3.7 . The textured device s indeed have redu ced reflection, na me l y
for 2. 5 mA cm -2 and almost 6.8 mA cm -2 with the back-side and both-sid e textur ed Si
wafer, respe ctively. The so -gained light is then absorbed in the absorbing layer s wit h the
extract ed
J
SC_S IM inc re ased from 16.2 mA cm -2 for the planar device to 16.9 mA c m -2 and
18.7 mA cm -2 for the back-side and both- s ide t extured S i w afer, re spectively . Note that
the current gained due to reduced reflection is then equall y s pre ad between both subcells.
Since the SHJ bottom cell is k ept as a c on s tant an d t he amount of light ab sorbed w ithin
is increa s ed, the perov skite absorber must be thicker to abs orb more light for the current
matching point to be reached (see Table 3.7) . We c an also e s tim ate the efficiency w e
could reach b y assumin g the experi me ntal ly achievable parameter s [129] open-circuit
volt age (
V
OC ) to be 1 .80 V (1 .10 V f or perovskit e and 0.70 V for SHJ sol ar cell ) and a
fill factor ( FF ) of 0.80. For the cases presented here , the highest efficien cy would be
26.9%. This means a 15.2 % relative inc r ease over the planar device perform ance. Further
improvement s can be obtained by optimizing t hic kness es of all the layers (not onl y
perovskite ab sorber) and by tunin g perov skite bandgap.

80 nm
8 n m
5 n m
25 0 µm
5 n m
8 n m
70 nm
500 nm
80 nm
30 nm
200 nm
250 nm
15 nm
spiro-OMeT A D
LiF
a-Si:H(p )
+
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(n )
+
pe rovskite
MoO 3
I T O
Ag
c-Si
I T O
ITO
T iO2
1 17 mm
light

I T O
a-Si:H(p )
+
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(n )
+
Ag
c-Si
I T O
ITO
T iO2
pe rovskite
spiro-OMeT AD
MoO 3
LiF

I T O
a - S i : H ( p )
+
a - S i : H ( i )
a - S i : H ( i )
a - S i : H ( n )
+
Ag
c - S i
I T O
I TO
T i O 2
p e r o v s k i t e
s p i r o - O M e T A D
M o O 3
L i F
80 nm
8 n m
5 n m
2 5 0 µ m
5 n m
8 n m
70 nm
500 nm
1 1 7 n m
80 nm
30 nm
200 nm
600 nm
15 nm

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
75

Table 3.7 :
J
SC _ SIM and
R
SIM in a current matchi ng point fo r the three d evice designs from Fig ur e
3. 20 and est ima ted efficiency based on exper i mentally a chievable parameters of the
V
OC and FF .
Perovskite layer t hickness in the cu rr e nt matching poi nt is also stated.

PK
thickness

R
SIM
(mA cm -2 )

J
SC_S IM
(mA cm -2 )

V
OC
(V)

FF

PCE
(%)

Change

Planar

250 nm

9.53

16.2

1.80

0.80

23.4

0

Back-text ured

280 nm

7.00

16.9

24.4

4. 3%

Double t extured

32 0 nm

2.77

18.7

26.9

15.2%

Figure 3 . 21 (b) shows th e refl ec tion (1-
R
) and the absorption f or the t hree studied
cases. Co mpared t o the planar devic e, for the back-side t exture the reflect ion is mostl y
reduced in the long-wavelength region, wher e we also get the highest increa s e in the
current in the c -Si due to light trapping. Howev er, it has littl e effect on the device
performance in the v isible light region as onl y wa velengths above 1000 nm can reach the
back side of the device. Therefore, one woul d expect that for the wavelengths below 1000
nm the absorption/refl ection spectra w ould be th e same for the ba c k-side text ured Si
wafer and the planar device. However , to reach t he current matching point , we had t o
increase the thickn ess of the perovskite absorber layer for the back-side text ure, which
resulted in different interf erences and therefor e different absorption spect ra. The best
performing device out of the three is the both-side text ured wafer. The additional texture
on the front side is very effective at anti-reflecti on. T h e refl ection is dec reased in the
whol e wavelength range, especiall y for the wavelengt hs below 900 nm where there is
almost no reflection at all . Consequent ly, the ab s orpt ion is also increased for al l
wavel engths. In t he ra nge b etween 600 and 800 nm , the increased abs orption in
perovskite m eans less absor ption in c- Si . However , there is a s ignificant reduction of the
reflect ion and inc r ease in absorpt ion in c -Si due to l ight t rapping for the longer
wavel engths where we make up for that loss. E ve n more, the gain is such that we again
have to compensate for it with almost 30% thic ker perovskite lay er compared to the
planar device .
Figure 3. 21 (b) pres ent s the absorption s pe c tra of the individual layers for the
text ured Si w afer while Figure 3 . 21 ( c ) the losses in the form of the equ ivalent short-
circuit current density. The main loss, beside s reflection, presents the HTM spiro-
OMeTAD with considerabl e absorption in the whole wavelength range and strong
absorption peak s at 380, 480 nm and in the long-wavelength range. To gain better

76
Chapter 3

efficiency one has to rep lace spiro-O Me TAD wit h a le ss absorbing (and also cheaper)
HTM or c han ge the dev ice design t o regular s tru cture. Minor losses are also in the front
ITO, MoO 3 protection l ay er (for ITO deposition ) and in the back contact if we used
text ured s urf ac es. T h is happens due t o increased t ransmission of the longer wavelengths
through the s tack to the back contact and weak absorpt ion of c -Si in the lo ng wavelengt h
range.

(a)

(b)

Figure 3. 21 : (a) Reflection a nd perovskite a nd c -Si a bsor ptio n spectra for a ll three d evice d esigns
(flat devic e, ba ck-sid e and both-si de textured Si wa fer). (b) Absorption of the indi vidual layers
for the textured Si wafer devic e. (c) Loss comparison b etween the th ree devic e designs .
3.4.4.2 Diff eren t te xtu res of th e li ght m ana gem ent f oil
Similarl y to the s ingl e- junction analysis, we also consider the LM foil for the planar
tandem device. We simulate the expected im prove ments for the textures s h own in Figure
3.6 (b) and Figure 3. 18 and described in 3.4.3 .4 . For the purpose of thi s s imul ations, we
keep the planar device struct ure and add the LM foil with different t extures in s tead of
the LiF AR coating as shown in Figure 3. 22 . The r esults in a current matching point are

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
77

shown in Figure 3. 22 (b ) and are very similar to the sin gle-jun ction analysis. T he
cornercube textured again proved to be the most successful at reducing reflect ion and
increasing the perf ormance. It i s only 0. 4 mA cm -2 below the dev ice wit h the tex tured S i
wafer. The r andom pyramid s fro m Si wafer and hexagonally arranged c o nvex parab olic
text ures hav e very similar performances w ith arou nd 0.8 m A cm -2 less harv ested c urrent
density. The c on cave parabol ic texture is next while the regular pyramids are again the
worst. Neverthel ess, the current density with regular pyramids is still improved by 1.1
mA cm -2 .

(a)

(b)

PK
thickness

R
SIM
(mA cm -2 )

J
SC_S IM
(mA cm -2 )

Cornercube

300 nm

4.02

18.3

Random
pyramid s

280 nm

5.67

17.5

Regular
pyramid s

270 nm

6.88

17.0

Parabolic O

280 nm

5.31

17.6

Parabolic U

270 nm

6.16

17.3

Figure 3 . 22 : Schematic illustration o f the investig ated perovskite /SHJ tand em device with a
planar desi gn a n d textured UV NIL layer. (b)
J
SC a nd
R
SIM in a current matching point fo r the
di ff erent tex tures. Pe rovskite layer thickness in the current ma tching point is also stated.
3.4.5 C onc lus ion
Optical 3D simulation s based on experimentall y obtained par ameters (lay er
thicknesse s ,
n
,
k
) were u s ed t o support the experimental findings of the single-junction
perovskite s olar cells. A good match between the simulated and experi mental data,
without and with the LM foil, was obtained , validating the model. Optic al s imul ations
reveal t hat the main improv em ent i n device perf ormance is due to a redu c tion in t otal
reflect ion and theref ore i ncreased absorp tion. We find that small er area devices s uffer
from light escaping the ac tive area , therefore a high amount of the refract ed light not
reaching the absorber. T hi s confirmed the difference in EQE between sim ul ation and
experiment for devi ces w ith the LM foil . In g eneral, a relative boost in phot ocurrent of
ca. 8% is feasible for la rge area device s , even for active layer s thi cke r than 1 µm.

80 nm
8 n m
5 n m
25 0 µm
5 n m
8 n m
70 nm
500 nm
30 m μ
80 nm
30 nm
200 nm
250 nm
15 nm
spiro-OMeT A D
UV NIL layer
a-Si:H(p )
+
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(i)
a-Si:H(n )
+
pe rovskite
MoO 3
I T O
Ag
c-Si
I T O
ITO
T iO2

78
Chapter 3

Additionall y, simulations revealed that optimize d light management c a n be used to
reduce the thickness of the active la yer to redu ce the amount of absorber material and
enhance the photogenera ted density, result ing in a n expected 36 mV enhan c ement of the
V
OC at an identi cal photocurrent . This s tudy demonstrat es the benef ic ial r ole of the L M
foil in reducing reflect ion and incre asing absorpti on in perov ski te absorber, ma king the
LM foil a promising solution for improv ing the performance of perov skite based sola r
cell.
We also perf ormed o pti cal s imul ations of the perovskite/ silicon-heterojunction
tandem solar cel ls. Three different device de s ign s were tested: planar devic e and device s
with back-side and both-sid e textur ed Si waf er, to optimize light manage ment. LM foils
with different text ures o n top of the pl anar device were also c on s id ered. All the design s
improve the performan ce compared to the planar device structure . T h e best performing
is a design wit h both-si de text ured Si wafer which inc re ases the short-circuit current
density by 2.5 mA cm -2 . Such increase is c au s ed by reduced reflection in the whole
wavel ength range and prolonged optical path in the near infr ared (NIR) region. Assum ing
V
OC =1.80 V and FF = 0.80 a 26.9% efficienc y can be obtained. Further improvements
can be achieved by using pero v s kit e with the optimal bandgap and optimizin g the
thicknesse s of all layers. This way , we anticipate the conversion efficiency to exceed 30%.
3.5 Su m mary
In t his chapter, perovskit e solar cells were present ed. In the first part , we
introduced perovskite material properties, s in gle junct ion and tandem solar cells . I n t he
second part , the fabricat ion and the chara cterization of the p erovskite singl e junction
devices were present ed. The effect of the HPA additive in the perovskite solution was
in vestigated . The add ition of the H PA impro ved the s urfac e morphol ogy of t he
perovskite, how ever, onl y a smal l effect on the dev ice p erformance wa s ob served, mo s tl y
in FF . Both devices, without and wit h the HPA, reached efficiencies above 15%. The
performance of the device s was then furt her improv ed by applying the light management
foil, which reduced the reflection and consequen tly increased the absorpt ion. Similar
promising results were obt ained for two device design s, on e with PTAA and one with
PEDOT: P SS a s a hol e transport mat erial.
In t he third part, optical simulat ions were used t o confirm experiment al f indings.
The optical model was first validated by a g ood match between simul ati ons and

Organic-inorgan ic perov skite solar cell s
79

experiment s , and then applied on single junction and tandem devices. Optical losses were
investigated and diff erent textur es of t he LM foil were con sidered. The resul ts confirmed
that by using textures, the planar dev ic es are drast ic all y improv ed. The single junction
device with t he LM foil can have up to 10% rel ative hi gher performance while the t andem
device buil t on both-side t extured Si wafer can reach 15% relat ive higher ef ficiency.

81
4 C a mer a -ba se d l igh t s ca tte r ing me a sur em e nt
sy st em s
This chapter is devoted to me asure ments of angular dist ribution of sc att ering light
at textured s urface s . Angul ar distribution function is one of the mo s t common parameters
when di s cussing scattered l ight and characteri zing textur ed surfa ces. It is u s ual ly
measured using goniomet ric sys te ms; however , the measure me nt s are time consu mi ng
and the systems measure angular distribut ion of scattered light in onl y one pl ane. To
speed up the measurem ents and obtain light scattering in 3D s p ac e , camera-based
systems can be u sed. Therefore , we develope d two camera-based light scattering
measurement systems, one wit h a reflect ive and one wit h a transmissive screen. B oth
systems enable fast, accur ate and spatial meas ur ements of s catt ered light. T he system
with the transmissive screen is used when charact erizing light s catt ering of the UV NIL
replicas.
The content s of s ection 4 . 2 on camera-based light s cat tering measurement sy ste m
with reflect ive s cr een were publish ed in 2014 und er the title “Camera -based angular
resolved spectroscop y system for spatial measurement s of scattered light ” in the journal
Applied O pti cs
[143]. The c ont ents of s ection 4.3 on camera- ba sed light scattering
measurement system with transmissive screen were published under the title “Camera -
based ARS system for complet e light scattering determination/ characteri zation” in the
journal
Measurement S cience and Technol ogy
[144].
4.1 Int rod uc tion
Light s cat tering is an impor tant phenomenon with a broad range of applicat ions,
in particular for efficient in-coupling of light in phot ovoltaic devi ces and/ or out-coupling
optoel ec tron ic devices [22] . The s cattering of lig ht usually happens at (nano)tex tured
surfaces in the device . In s olar cells, scattered light rays hav e prolonged optical paths,
ult im atel y result ing in a higher conversion effi c ien c y [12]. In light sources, s cat tering at

82
Chapter 4

nanorough surfaces is us ed to broaden the angul ar di stribution of e mi tt ed light [145]. As
different (nan o)structur es sc att er light d ifferently, it is of great importance to know and
quant ify the process o f light scattering . The basic concept s of lig ht scattering
measurement s are t herefore standardized and described in ASTM [14 6 ], [147] and
ISO [14 8 ] standard s.
In the field of (thin-film) photovoltaics, two main techn iques are us ed to
characterize light scattering propert ies of rough surfaces: Total Integrati ng Scattering
(TIS) and Angular Re s ol ved Scat tering (ARS). TIS measur es the ent ire scatt ered light
and does not include the directional (angul ar) information on scatt ered ligh t [ 1 2] . Using
a monochromat or and an integrating sphere with openings, TIS measurements are
performed in a broad wavel ength range for both r eflected and tran smi tt ed light.
ARS on the ot her hand provides information about angular di s trib ution of
scattered or emitted light of optoel ec tron ic device s [12], [22] . Even measured in the
surrounding air, it already give s an important indication about preferred text ures for
enhanced absorption in the structure [12], [149]. ARS systems are usual ly goniometric
and mea s ure angul ar distribut ion function (ADF ) in one plane only (1D ADF). Different
goniometric ARS s yste ms have been developed, such as on es by R ifkin et al . [150] , Krč
et al. [151 ] , Schröder et a l. [152], Amra et al. [153] and Jäger et al. [ 1 54] , w here the last
two can measure AD F in broader wavel ength range. Us u ally using goni ometric s cann ing
method, ARS systems are quite time- con s uming ev en if mea s uring in one plane only. In
case of random textured s urfaces, assuming rotational symmetry, one plane provides
enough informat ion t o predic t t he int ensity distribution in 3D space. However ,
goniometric scanning is not time -effective and sometimes not sufficient to accurately
determine light scattering in 3D s pace. I n order to ac quire more complete information
about 3D ADF in a shor t time, camera-based ARS s yste m s are used. Some of them are
commercial products [ 1 55], [ 1 56] , wit h hemispherical reflective screens that are already
fully compliant wit h standard s typic ally used for light sources. S c att ered light can be
projected also on flat screen s that are ei ther ref lective or tran smissive.
A few camera-ba s ed systems on a l ab scale were al ready report ed. Berner et al.
[157] introduced a system with a lens and tran s mi ss ive screen for measurement s of
transmitted scattered light. A similar approach (but without a lens) was used for the
characterizat ion of opt ic al films for 3D display s [1 58] . Foldyn a et al. [159] report ed on a
system for spatial measurements of the reflecte d light in a broad range with a ver y
complex cono sc op y configurat ion. Some other p ublications on t he measurements of the

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
83

reflect ed l ight were also reported [ 1 6 0], [161]. T h ey, however, have been developed for
the application s ( ro ad surface refl ec tivit y and modell ing for comput er graphics,
respectivel y ), and samp les t hat are very diff erent t o t he applicat ion and samples
discussed here. Additionally, light scattering systems were also built to analyze reflect ion
under illuminat ion with a linear light s ource [162] and to inspect s urface roughness or
defects [163] – [165].
The c a me ra-ba sed ARS system s are compact, in expensive and enabl e quantification
of light scattering over a b road ang ular range at one camera s hot per wavel ength. Thi s
makes them a powerful tool for the c h aracterizati on of a versatile set of different samples
or as an inspection tool in the high throughput industrial production. Random ly,
periodicall y and qua si-periodically tex tured transparent samples or light s o urces, such as
LEDs, can be c hara cterized accuratel y and in a very short time (seconds).
In this chapter, we focus on t he development and the appl ic ation of ARS sys te ms
based o n a digital CCD camera to determine 3D ADF of transmitted and re flected light.
Two different systems are pre sented. T he first one inc lud es a lens t o broaden the polar
angle ran ge and a reflectiv e screen in order to ga in in the signal. The secon d one is b uilt
with a transmissive screen and can be used to measure transmit ted or refl ected l ight but
only in a part of a he misphere. The mathem atics behind both systems are pre s ented .
Projection screens are ch aracterized. The system s are validated with diffract ion gratings
and randoml y tex tured TCO sampl es.
4.2 Re flec tiv e sc ree n
Camera-ba s ed A R S systems capture the scattered light, projected on the s creen.
Most of the studies used transmissive screen where scattered light that is transmitted
through the screen is captured. We, however, introduce a new solution of the 3D
measuring system for the measurement s of scattered light based on highl y reflective
screen. Captur ing the light reflect ed from the screen , result s in lower scre en losses due
to no absorption in t he screen and no refraction o r sc att ering inside the s cr ee n. Thus, we
can avoid optical losses in the diffus ive tran smission screens by employing inexpen s ive
highly reflective and highl y diffusive refl ec tion screens, e.g. whit e paper. Moreover, in
this ap proach it is al s o e asier to avoid t he direct specular beam entering the c a me ra and
saturating the cent ral pixel s of acquired imag e. The devel oped s yste m is also appl icable

84
Chapter 4

for characterization of o ptical sour ces such as LEDs w hen det ermining their l uminous
intensity di s trib ution of emitt ed light.
In t he next sub s ect ions, the devel oped camera - ba sed sy s tem , incl uding al l r equired
computational transform ations from raw image to 3D ADF representation and the
analysis of related effe cts, is described . Sen sitivity and resolution matters are discussed.
The sys te m is validated on a series of results of 3D ADF measure ment on s elect ed
nanotext ured s up ers trat es used in thin- fil m silicon s olar cells and on a selected light
source. Qu alitative and q uantitative compari s on between camera - ba s ed results and
results obtained with th e conventional goniomet ric ARS setup are given. A detailed
analysis of possible mea surement errors is al s o car ried out .
A paper describing this system was published in the journal
Applied Optics
,
en tit led “ Camera-based angul ar resolved spectroscopy system for spatial measurement s
of scattered light ” [ 1 43] . The main scientific contribut ions were introduction of the
reflect ive screen and the lens and detailed an alysis of the po ssible lens errors.
4.2.1 E xp eri me nta l
4.2.1.1 Sy stem se tup
The scheme of the dev eloped camera-based s etup for the case of d eterminat ion of
3D ADF of sc att ered transmitt ed light at a textured transparent sample is shown in
Figure 4.1 . Collimated laser light is used for ill umination of a sample. In the c a se of
determination of 3D ADF of a light source, the d evice is placed on the position of the
sample and la ser illumination i s not u s ed . Ju s t be hind the sampl e (or light s our ce under
test) a hemisph erical lens is used to narrow the a ngular dis tribut ion of the l ight so that
small er screens can be used, resul ting in a compact system. Light is then p rojected on a
tilted (screen angle α) highly -reflect ive and diffusive flat screen, where the imag e is
captured b y a camera. Here, a commonl y u s ed wh ite paper (100 µm) was e mployed as a
screen. To eliminat e the effect o f the specular beam ( whi ch often present s a strong
component on the i mage despite scatt ering at the sample and at t he diffus ive screen) a
hole was made in the scre en, enabl ing the beam to be transmit ted (solid red line in Figure
4.1). For a tilt ed screen, an ell iptic shape of the hol e was u sed. Effects of satur ation and
pixel c ross-t alk in the camera can thu s be avoide d. As a result, only n on -specul ar light
is c aptur ed by the camera, which presents the r equired informat ion to determine the
ADF of scattered light (sp ec ul ar c omponent ex cluded). In case of samples/ light s ourc es

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
85

where specular component is not pronounced, the hole is covered by the screen material.
To c aptur e t he image a 1 . 4-megapixel CCD camera with 16-bit resolut ion was utilized in
our system, positioned perpendic ularly to the til ted refl ec tive screen along the z’ axis as
shown in Figure 4.1 . This way we avoid additional transformations due to camera
asymmetry/ rectilinear effect and only appl y screen angle transfor mation . I f the cent er of
the specular beam is considered as a cent er of t he signal ADF, we get the widest range
of the s ignal ADF. I f using a lens with high distort ion, di s tort ion or aberrat ion correctio n
also has t o be c on s idered and applied.

Figure 4.1 : C amera-bas ed system sc heme for the case of detection of transmitted s cattered light
of a tex tured tr a nsparent sample: lase r illumi nates the sample and the sc attered transmitted
light is pro j ected on the scr een. The camera ca ptures images of the 3D ADF from the s creen.
The time of the measurement with a camera- b ased system is determin ed by the
integration t im e of t he C CD c a me ra , whi ch is limited by the intensit y of th e laser beam
(or light sour c e under te st). We want to get as much signal as possibl e without saturating
the c amera. I n our case, where a 10 mW He-Ne laser was used, the time of the
measurement ( integrat ion time of the camera) can be s et to a few seconds. Us in g
conventional gon iometric ARS with a rotating arm [12], s canning the intensities in a
single measuring plane, the measure ment us ual ly take s more than 10 seconds per angul ar
step, thus measurement in the comparable r ange (still in one plane onl y) of 80° with a
step of 0.5 ° can last more than 30 minutes.
4.2.1.2 R ange an d res olu tion of the m e asur em ent
Range of the proposed sys te m depends on many variable s , such as dist ance s
between different c ompo nents, lens focal lengt h, s creen size and camera lens viewing

86
Chapter 4

angle. In the setup, a small s creen in size of A4 paper format was used to make the
system comp ac t. Hemisp herical lens made of gl ass with refractive ind ex
n
= 1.515 and
radius 5 cm was used, enabling to widen the range of s patial angle of light to be projected
on such relat ively s mall screen. W ith the lens, the angul ar range of acquired 3D ADF is
almost doubled, in particular case it ranges from - 38° to 30° in horizont al and from - 48°
to 48° in v ertical direct ion of the screen. T he asymmetry in the horizont al axis is a result
of the til t of the screen. Screen angle and camera distance s houl d be set so that the
camera doe s not bl oc k t he signal and we get maximum ADF range while still avoiding
specular reflect ion from the s creen. Screen angle
α
= 20° was chosen for our s etup.
Improving the rang e of th e system can be done by altering e.g. camera lens viewing angle,
using larger screen and/or altering lens distance which will be bri efly discussed in the
results section , though, attent ion should be pa id on the effects mentione d in the next
section.
Contrary to the conventional goniometric ARS system where the angular resolut ion
can be set constant along the scanning plane, here it varies due to til ted flat screen.
Tilted flat screen deman ds a solid angl e transformat ion (see section 4.2.2), causin g t hat
a discret e solid angle corresponds to different numb er of camera pixel s, depending on the
position on the sc r een. For this s etup, a d iscrete solid angle of
Ω
= 0 .000079 srad is used
in c alcul ations, f ollowing the 𝛺 = 2𝜋 (1 − cos 𝛿 ) equation , where
δ
= 0.005 rad , and t he
number of pixel s, cover ing the area defined b y the angle, v aries from 36 to 99 depending
on the po sition on the screen. Alternat ively, one pixel represents s olid angl es from
Ω
=
8.1*1 0 -7 srad to
Ω
= 2.2*1 0 -6 srad. The angul ar resolution of the system, determined by
the pixel resolution of the camera and its distanc e from the screen, could be improve d
by using a CCD camera with higher resol ution.
4.2.2 I mag e pro ces sin g a nd tr an sfor m ati ons
The capt ured image of the illuminated screen ne eds further process ing in order to
extract the 3D ADF of the s ampl e. Foll owing transformat ions and effect s need to be
included: (i) l ens transfo rmation, (ii) screen angl e and solid angl e transf ormation and
(iii) ADF of the screen. In addition to me ntion ed transformat ions, a raw image as
captured with CCD camera needs camera off s et subtraction and outliers removal first.
This is done in ac cordan ce with B okal ič et al. [166], [167]. In the foll owing s ub s e c tion s
we present t he transform ations and some of t he rel ated optical effects in more details.

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
87

4.2.2.1 Len s tr ans form atio n
The Snell ’s law define s the refra c tions of t he bea ms at the ent rance and at the exit
of the lens. Optical transform ation of the lens was studied with optical s imulator
CROWM [1 34], [136], [1 37] . R efract ion angles a s calculat ed internall y in our procedure
were in perfect agreement with the angles simul ated by CROWM.
With CROWM other effect s related to the lens were studied, such as non -zero
reflect ion at the surface s of the lens and crossing of the refracted b eams. Multipl e
refractions and reflect ions might occur in the lens if imperfect anti -refl ecting c oating s are
used. T h ere is a poss ibility that secondary refracted beams with non-negligibl e s trengt h
exit the lens and hit the screen and therefore influence the mea s urem ent. I n our s yste m
a lens with no anti-reflect ing coating was used, w hic h wa s c on sidered in si mulations.

Beam

Relative
intensity

⓪

100%

①

4.30 %

②

91.39 %

③

3.83 %

④

0.18 %

⑤

0.06 %

⑥

~0 %

⑦

~0 %

⑧

~0 %

Figure 4 .2: (a) Some of refracted and refl ec ted beams correspondi ng to a single incid ent beam
applied under 20 ° incident a ngle to the lens front su rface. Rela tive intensi ties of the beams are
given in the table. (b) Refrac tion of incid ent beams (no reflected beams consid ered in this case)
applied under di ff ere nt incid ent ang les. Note that the crossing of the re fracted beams can occur
(denoted wi th arrows), limiti ng the highes t value of allowed i ncident angle.
Result s of a simulation for a two-dimensional prob lem (not 3D) wher e the b eam i s
applied under 20° incide nt angle is s hown in Figure 4.2 (a) for the purpose of ea sie r
representat ion. Rel ative intensities of t he s eri es of reflected/ refracted beams are listed in
the table aside t he figure. The results of the compl ete analy s is wh ere the bea ms wer e
applied under various incident angl es are summari zed i n T abl e 4.1 .
Intensitie s of the direct beam and all transmit ted beams were obtained from
simu lat ions. At the inc id ent angle 40° , tot al refl e ction oc curs in the s elect ed lens (fro m
beam ③ to ④ ). This result s in total transmission being c on siderably higher than the
direct beam transmission. However, in our sy s tem the t otal ref lected bea ms corr es ponding
to these incident angles already miss the screen and do not infl uence t he measurement.

2 6
4
7
8
1 5
3
0 (a)

(b)

88
Chapter 4

Table 4.1 wa s u s ed as a basis for calibr ation of the syst em (direct beam intensity) with
respect to non -zero reflec tion at the lens s urface s.
Table 4.1: Lens t ransmissi on considering di ff ere nt refracted beams.

Incidence
Angle (°)

Transmi s sion (dire ct
beam ② only)

Total t rans mi s sion
(beams
② + ④ + ⑥ + ⑦ + ⑧ )

Difference [ % ]

0

0.9142

0.9159

0.19

10

0.9141

0.9159

0.20

20

0.9139

0.9157

0.20

30

0.9127

0.9155

0.31

40

0.9085

0.9501

4.58

50

0.8970

0.9362

4.37

60

0.8666

0.9040

4.32

70

0.7878

0.7898

0.25

Another effect that was s tudied by simulat ion is an overlapping of the refracted
beams at high angles (Figure 4.2 (b) ). A b order a ngle at which t his effe c t happen s is 62°
for our c a s e where the distance bet ween t he s amp le and t he l ens
d
was set to 9 mm. T he
dependence of the border angle on
d
is shown in Table 4.2. Lens shape and size are also
very important. With ap propriate plano-convex le ns we can almost comple tely eliminate
the overlapping effect – extending the angles of ADF measurement above > 80° (with
our lens up to 79° at
d
= 1 mm would be possib le). However, in this case also a large
screen and camera lens with a wide angle of view have t o be used. T hu s , the angular
limitat ions specified for the present ing system are not linked to the concept but to the
specific equip ment used in the s etup. This effe ct was in our setup elim inated by s tick ing
a black ring on the lens that b l oc ked all inc ident beams with angle greater than 60° for
d
= 9 mm (not depicted in Figure 4. 1 ).
Table 4 .2: Border a ngle for different d istance s between the lens and the sample for a
hemispherical lens .

Distance
d

9 mm

7 mm

8 mm

10 mm

11 mm

Border angle

62°

65°

64°

61°

60°

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
89

4.2.2.1.1 Sa mpl e- to -le ns d ista nce sens itiv ity
Illuminated sample is c on s id ered as a point source of the s cat tered light as the laser
beam is coll im ated. Di stance between t he sample and t he lens appear s to be an import ant
parameter , not only in determination of the border angl e described above . Since the
d
is
usually relat ively small, its measuring error can result in ADF angul ar inaccuracy. We
checked the errors in scattering (radiation) angle determination related to
Δ
d
= +/ -1 mm adju s tm ent tolerance applied t o
d
= 9 mm. The results are presented in
Table 4.3.
Table 4.3 : The effect of inaccurate determinati on of the di stance between sample a nd the lens
on angula r error i n ADF as a function of scatte ring angle .

Scatt ering angle at
d
= 9 mm, ϴ (°)

Δ ϴ (°) error if 
d
= -1 mm
(
d
= 8 mm)

Δ ϴ (°) error if 
d
= +1 mm
(
d
= 10 m m)

0

0

0

10

0.18

-0.2

20

0.38

-0.41

30

0.64

-0.68

40

1.00

-1.1 7

Angular error as a c on s e quence of inaccurate adjustment of
d
increa s es with the
scattering angle. Positive difference means that the determined ADF is broadened,
whereas negative difference means narr owed ADF. The distance betw een sample and lens
has to be cho sen correctl y and measured prec isely in order to av oid t hese e rrors.
4.2.2.1.2 Sen si tivity on lens til t f rom x -y p lan e
Ideally the lens axi s is perpendicul ar to the x- y plane of our system (see Figure
4.1). Effect of l ens tilt deviation was stud ied nex t. I n the tests t he angul ar t olerance of
+/ - 1° lens deviation fro m the perpendicul ar posit ion was assumed . Relat ed errors in
determination of scatteri ng angles of ADF are presented in Table 4.4. The scatt ering
angles error for tilt ed lens reache s up to |Δ ϴ |= 3° for selected parameter s o f our system.
Such an error is not insignific ant, however , an extreme case was studied here. I n
application a deviation of lens rotation le ss tha n 0.5° can easily be achieved and the
corresponding error mini mi zed t o |Δ ϴ | <1.5° at scat tering angle 40° .

90
Chapter 4

Table 4 .4: The effect of inaccurate a ngular a lignment of the lens on t he angular error i n ADF a s
a function of sca ttering angle .

Scatt ering
angle (°)

 40

 30

 20

 10

0

10

20

30

40

Δ ϴ (°)

-1.05

-0.05

0.1

0.4

1.0

1.65

2.05

2.2

3.0

(a)

(b)

Figure 4 .3: (a ) 3D ADF of a linea r ( 1D) d iffraction grati ng and (b) line scan from 3 D ADF (solid
black line) co mpared with ca lculated angles (da shed red li ne), screen angle
α
= 20°.
4.2.2.2 Scr een an gle and s oli d an gle tran sfor ma tion
Screen an gle and solid a ngle t rans format ions are needed as the screen i s fl at (not
hemispherical) and tilted for the screen angle
α
(non-perpend icular to the laser beam) ,
respectivel y . Light is discret ized into equal different ial solid angl es (
Ω
= 0.000079 s r ad),
defined by differential azimuth and polar angle - referred to as discrete light beams in
furt her. The beams are projected into differential spot area s on the s creen, depending on
the sc reen angle and the scattering/emission angle of the beam. Geometri cal rules are
follow ed to transform s pot areas at certain positions of the s creen to the angles and
intensities of the ADF . To test the t rans form ation we measur ed the 3D ADF of a linear
periodic grating wher e the angles of the discr ete scattered beams (modes) can be
calculat ed based on diffract ion theor y [168]. Re sult s of the mea s ure me nt s are shown in
Figure 4. 3 (a) - 3D AD F presented in a polar plot and Figure 4.3 (b) - ADF in a selected
plane where the beams are present (central horizont al line from Figure 4. 3 (a) ). S inc e
the grating was linear (lines), scatt ered beams appear onl y in one (in this case horizontal )
plane. Similar tests were also done for 90° rot ated grat ing where the vertical plane w as

1e+5
1e+6
1e+7
1e+8
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0 5
10
15 20
25
30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
3D ADF (a.u.)
(°)
(°)

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
91

tested (not shown here). Good agreement was acquired between both measurements and
calculat ed angles, validat ing all the des cribed angul ar transformat ions (the ampl itude
asymmetry , mo s t not ably seen at angles +/- 25°, is a result of camera satu ration).
4.2.2.3 Scr een c har ac teris tics
It is a key requir ement of the reflective s creen to be highl y diff usive. It is also
convenient to hav e a un iform ADF

of scattered l ight at the screen. In case of a specul ar
screen (mirror), most of the light projected on the mirror would b e specularl y refl ected,
thus outside the acquisit ion (view) angle of the camera. Diffusive nature enables that
each of the illuminated point of the screen, dire cts a proportion of light towards the
camera. Theref ore, to correctl y c alcul ate the 3D ADF of the sampl e, the ADF

of the
screen ha s to be known.
For the characteriz ation of sc re en’s A DF in reflection , we used the conventional
goniometric based ARS setup [169]. ADF of the used white paper sc reen was measured
at diff erent incident an gles. Selected re sults are presented in Figure 4.4 . A s the
measurement s s howed isotrop ic behaviour of 3D scattering we pre s e nt here the result s of
the ADF measurement s in one plane only. Al l ADF curve s corresponding to different
incident angl es of the ill umination can be approxi ma t ed wit h a cosine fun ction, whi c h is
typical for Lambertian diffusors, except at the angle of s pecular reflection where ADF
signals are increased . T h e an gular adjustment of the screen (
α
= 20°) and the c a me ra
was selected in the way that the s pe c ul ar part of the ADF of the sc reen is not in the
range of camera acq uisition, t hus approxi ma ti on wit h cosine function is justified .
Furthermore, linear dep endence b etween a mplitude of the c osine approxim ation and t he
incident angl es w as detected (the effect is r elatively smal l and thus not visib le in Figure
4.4). Equation ( 4 . 1 was u s ed to describe thi s eff ect in ADF Rscreen det ermi nat ion.

𝐴𝐷𝐹 𝑅𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 = (𝑎 ∗ 𝛽 + 𝑏 ) ∗ cos(𝛾 )

(4.1)

The
β
i s t he incident angle of the approaching beam t o the screen and
γ
is the
angle between the camera and the scattered beam position on the s cr ee n (see Figure 4.1 ).
Each d iscrete light b eam has differ ent
β
and
γ,
the refore A DF of the screen is c al c ul ated
for each discrete light beam separat ely. Coefficients
a
and
b
repre sent the l inear
dependence of the amplitude, their values were
a
=-0.0001 33 and
b
= 0.04 2 for our
system.

92
Chapter 4

Figure 4.4 : ADF li ne s can of the white paper scree n a t 4 i ncident angles
β
and cosi ne
approxima tion for
β
= 30° .
4.2.3 R esu lts a nd dis cus sio n
We have validated the developed s yste m wit h two types of samples: ( i) transparent
surface-text ured samples and (i i) a referen ce light source. M easurements we re c ompared
with the existing goniomet ric ARS system [169]. First, surface textured ZnO:Al
transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films s put tered on glass and etch ed in diluted
HCl [170] were c hara cterized. These T CO s a mples are commonly u sed as a superstrat e
in thin-film s ilicon s ol ar cells, introducing textured interfaces in the cell. Here, bar e
glass/TCO samples with nanotextured s urface of T C O facing the lens were char act eriz ed
with respect of light scattering in air. Although this s ituat ion may not d irectly refer t o
the s cattering inside the solar cell, we s til l get valuabl e information on s cat tering
characteristic s from the mea s ure ment.

(a)

(b)

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
93

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

Figure 4.5: (a,b) CC D images, (c,d) 3 D ADF a nd (e,f) ADF li ne sca ns for etch ed ZnO:Al –
etching time 20 s (left s ide) and 3 0 s (right side) a nd (g,h) comparison of ADF line scans for
three samples ( 10, 20 and 30 s etc hing times). Scree n angle
α
= 20°.
In the case of the TCO sample measurement , the screen’s hole was left open due to
relat ively high intensity of the transmitted spec ular beam. For experiment s different

0
5e+6
1e+7
2e+7
2e+7
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
3D ADF (a.u.)
(°)
(°)

0
5e+6
1e+7
2e+7
2e+7
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
3D ADF (a.u.)
(°)
(°)

94
Chapter 4

lasers wer e used, h ere we pre s ent the result s obtained with the He -Ne red (
λ
= 633 nm ,
P
= 10 mW) laser.
Result s for three s ampl es of sputt ered and etched Z nO :Al (corresponding t o etching
time 10 s, 20 s and 30 s) [171] are shown in Figure 4.5 . Figure 4.5 (a) and (b) s how
unprocessed raw image as captur ed by the CC D camera for t he 20 s an d 30 s etched
samples. Th e hol e of ellipt ic shap e in the scr ee n can be obser ved. Blue and red dashed
lines represent the direct ion of the horizont al and vertical ADF line scan respectivel y ,
corresponding to the result s pres ented in Figure 4.5 (e) and (f). Figure 4.5 (c) and (d)
show the 3D ADF after all required transformations (see Section 4.2.2) are applied . For
clear representation of 3D ADF polar plots were chosen. Direct ions of spherical
coordinate s (the azimuthal angle,
φ
, and the polar angle, ϴ ) are denoted with arrows.
The polar angle is assigned to scat tering an gle when showing h orizontal or vertical line
scan (con stant
φ
). For the pol ar angle ϴ a range of +/- 30° w as cho s en, as for p ositive
polar angles this was the limitation for acquiring the ADF with the given screen size and
camera u sed. Capt uring the signal up to the border angle woul d be po ss ibl e with a camera
lens wit h a wider angle o f view. Signal ADF values ar e in arbitrary unit s and depend on
camera’s integration time, which wa s set to
t
= 250 m s for all three samples. As the
samples are randomly te xtured they scat ter light isotropi c al ly with respect to azimuthal
angle. Symmetry of the ADFs around the specul ar direction can be seen also in our
measurement s which implies that transform ations for a tilted flat s creen were applied
adequatel y. Good agree ment can b e observed from Figure 4.5 (e) a nd (f), wher e
compari s on between ADF in selected plane (pola r angle ϴ

at azi muth angle
φ
= 0° for
blue line and
φ
= 90° for red line) obtained with the developed c a me ra -ba sed system and
the reference goniometric ARS system. The ADF values obtain ed fro m the reference
goniometric ARS system were s caled to the ones a cquired with the developed ARS system
to enabl e comparison. A low ADF signal around t he specular be am (| ϴ |< 5°) is a result
of the hol e in the screen, wherea s existing goniometric A R S system has high values due
to the specul ar beam.
For all the me a s ur em ent s we have mini mi z ed the err ors described in s ection 4 .2.2.1
as muc h a s poss ible by calibrating the s yste m as wel l as by careful alignment of the
components and distances bet ween. However, t o demonstrate the effect of distance
between the l ens and the s ampl e and lens tilt e rror we s how in Figure 4.6 the error zone
corresponding to the errors Δ
d
= - 1 mm with lens til t 1° and Δ
d
= +1 mm. for the
ZnO:Al sample (etching time 30 s,
φ
= 90 °). The error zone is c olor ed gr ey and t he error

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
95

values were chosen to match those from error analysis in s e c tion 4.2.2.1. As alread y
mentioned, t he errors considered here ar e r ather extreme cases. B y c areful adjustment of
the system c o mponents much small er errors are ex pected in our measure ments.
Figure 4.5 (g) shows absolut e compari son between the ADF measurement s of
ZnO:Al samples as obtained with the camera-based system wherea s in Figure 4.5 (h)
normalized comparison is shown. M easurements show that the s ampl e with longest
etching time (30 s) scatt ers higher amount of light while the sam pl e w ith shorter etching
time (10 s) scat ters less light as it is less rough. H owever, normalized s igna l ADF

shows
that samples with shorter etching tim e scatt er light bett er at larger angl es (far away
from specul ar direction), relatively.

Figure 4.6: E rror a nalysis for ZnO:Al e tching time 30 s,
φ
= 90 ° . Error zone corresponds to t he
extreme ca ses presented i n section 4.2.2. 1 – Δ
d
= - 1 mm wi th lens tilt 1° and Δ
d
= +1 mm.
In addition to c h aracterization of light scattering propert ies of the TCO
superstrat es used in thin-film solar cell technology our system is also applicable to
characterize the luminous intensity distribut ion of light sources as well. For
demonstrat ion purp ose, we present here the application of the s yste m for characterization
of the calibration light LS1 for spectrophot ome te rs from Ocean optics [172]. Whenever
characterizing s ampl es or sources where specular beam does not cau se camera s aturat ion
a screen without a h ole for the s pecular b eam can be u sed. Figure 4.7 (a) shows 3D ADF
(proportional to 3D luminous intensity distribut ion) and Figure 4.7 (b) shows selecte d
line scans and comparison with reference goniometric ARS system. Good matching
between the camera-ba sed and reference g oniometric s yste m was ag ain acq uired, as seen
in Figure 4. 7 (b) .

96
Chapter 4

( a)

(b)

Figure 4.7: (a) 3D ADF and ( b) line s cans for light s ource LS1 (
t
= 5 s ), screen
angle
α
= 20°.
4.2.4 C onc lus ion
Camera-ba s ed ARS s yst em using a reflective screen for the characteriz ation of
scattered or em itt ed light along with a ll the trans formation s needed to extract the 3D
ADF was pre sented . The system i s based on a reflect ive screen and a he mispherical len s
that is u s ed t o broaden the range of the sy stem. The sy s tem was tested w ith three T CO
samples and a refer ence light source while sensitivit y analysi s was also carried out.
Result s show good matching wit h t he result s obtai ned with the conventiona l ARS system.
Using a hemisph erical glass lens with radiu s
r
= 5 cm the angular range was almost
doubl ed to ± 4 8°. T he an gular range of the presen ted system can be further extended by
using a camera lens wit h wider angl e of v ie w . The resolution of the system can al so be
simply improved by using a C CD camera w ith higher resolution.
4.3 Tr ans mi ssiv e s cree n
Transmi s sive screens hav e one big advantage over reflect ive screens – it is easier
to ac hi eve greater an gular range of measur em ent s s in c e the position of the el ements have
less influence on the ca mera angle view (the sample might bl ock the ca me r a view). Here
presented upgrade of the proof-of - the camera-based system from a reflec tive screen to
the transmi s sive screen enables measurement s of reflect ed and transmit ted scattered

2e+7
4e+7
6e+7
8e+7
1e+8
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
3D ADF (a.u.)
(°)
(°)

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
97

light , t he aimed range af ter addit ional tran s formations bein g a full sphere. T he h ole t o
let t he laser/specular beam thr ough is kept, but t he l ens is omit ted.
In this setup we use a transmi ssive sc re en, positioned non- perpendicul arly at the
specular beam to cover large scattering angle s . Compared to the ot her report ed setup s,
mentioned in the introduction 4.1, such c onfigur ation enables measurement s of al l the
polar angles

, from 0° t o 90°. To broad en the range for azimuthal angles

, we apply a
few step rotation of the sample or/ and the screen wit h the camera . This camera-ba s ed
system is usef ul for both scattering samples and light emitting samples (LED and O LED) .
Besides transmit ted, the new setup enables also measurements of reflected light which
has not been reported yet. I n addition to the fast and accurate deter mi natio n of the (full)
3D ADF, we show how to obtain the haze paramet er (ratio between integrat ed diffused
over total light) with the new s etup. We also carried out basic repe atability and
uncertainty analysis.
In the first part, we present the configuration of the system and image proce ssing
procedure to acquire light s cattering param eters of the sample from raw image . In the
results section we present the res ul ts of measu rements of the two selected s ampl es :
nanotext ured transparent conductive oxide on a glass s ub strate and periodi cally text ured
silicon sa mple. The resul ts of the haze det ermination are also shown.
A paper describing thi s system wa s pub lished in t he journal
Mea s urement s Science
and Technolog y
, en titled “Camera -based ARS sys te m for c o mplete light s catt ering
determination/ characteri zation” [144]. The ma in scientific cont ributions were t he ability
to measure bot h reflectance and tran smittance a nd in the full (hemi)sphe re range.
4.3.1 E xp eri me nta l
4.3.1.1 Sys tem setu p
The setup of the novel camera-based system is illustrat ed in Figure 4.8 (a) . A
collimat ed laser source w ith λ = 633 n m i s used to ill umi nate the sample. A coll im ated
light from a monocromator can be used if a s can over wav eleng th range is needed . T he
scattered or emitted light from the s ampl e is projected on the transmi ss iv e screen and
captured b y t he camera. The screen, po sitioned at

= 45° to the s ampl e p lane, is used
for either reflectance or transmittance measurement , denoted with position R and
position T in Figure 4.8 (a). When measuring the reflected light, the l as er beam is first
let through the hole in the screen R so that it c a n reach the sample. When measuring

98
Chapter 4

the tran s mit ted light, the spe c ul ar beam n ee d s to be blocked w ith a pin o n the screen T
if it causes camera saturation and/or blooming effect . A hole coul d also be used instead
of the pin. However, w hen measuring specular beam, the hol e woul d hav e to be filled
with the screen material. T o capture the i mage from a screen, a 1 .4 -Mpixel CCD ca me ra
with 16-bit resolution was utilized in our system, positioned perpendicul arly to the
screen(s). T h is wa y we avoid addition al asymmet ry tran sformations.

( a)

( b)

Figure 4 .8 : ( a) Schematics of t he camera -based system for mea surements of reflected and
transmitted lig ht. The scre en angle
 
= 45 °. In ca se of mea surement of reflec ted light the las er
beam i s let through the screen vi a a hole in the s creen. In ca se of a measure ment o f the
transmitted light the specular beam i s blocked to prevent came ra sa tur a tion. The camera
captures the light that i s pro jec ted on the screen. Attenuati on filter position is also depi cted, as
it will be later ref e renced in ha ze results s ection. ( b) P h otograph o f the ca mera-bas ed system for
the measu rement of transmi tted lig ht (screen in position T).

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
99

In Figur e 4 .8 two configurat ions are present ed, one for reflect ance (position R) and
one for tran smittance (position T). It require s t wo camera s and two screens to me asur e
scattered light in
R
and
T
simultaneou sly. In c a se of a single c amera, an automatic (or
manual) rotat ion of 90° is n eeded to chang e t he c amera from on e po sition to the ot her,
all owing us to sequential ly m easure both
R
and
T
. Due to possibl e refl ections from one
screen ont o another, addit i onal care i s advi s ed.
With the placement of the sc r een as shown in Figu re 4.8, we do not cover the entire
hemisphere of refl ec ted or transmitted light, but only a part of it. This way, how ever, we
get f ull pol ar range

, fro m 0° t o 90°, at a cost of a smaller azimuth rang e. Range can be
extended to almost full s pher e (in R or T ) by, e.g. rotat ing the camera (and screen)
around the sample for 90°, 180° and 270° or, as wi ll be proposed here, by rotating the
sample. Nonethel ess , if samples scatter light isotropically, one mea surement is s ufficient
and can be ext ended to other azi muthal angles co ns idering rot ational sym me try.
4.3.2 I mag e pr oces sin g an d tr an sfor m ati ons
Once an image is captured with the camera, furthe r processing and transfor mations
are needed to acquire the correct 3D ADF from its pixel val ues . Camera ef fects, s u ch as
noise offset and outliers, have to be removed first. Furthermore, to gain comparabl e
results from different measureme nts, the intensit ie s of the pixels in the images are
normalized w ith their integration time as the used camera has l inear time dependency.
Here we follow s tandard procedur e, as described in [ 1 6 7]. In case that the light s ource
intensity ch anges, the pi xel intensities need to be normaliz ed once more.
4.3.2.1 Co ordin ate syst em
In our tran s format ions a nd 3D ADF presentatio ns we wil l refer to the spherical
coordinate system as presented in Figure 4.9. Symbol

denotes the polar angle and


the azimuth angle. The origin of the spherical coordinate system is set at the illuminatio n
point of the l aser beam o n the sample.
Despite the angular distribution of scattered light being a continuous func tion in
general, a discret e repre sentation of the ADF at the specific angles is widely accepted
and applied also in our case. The 3D ADF is here defined as a light intensity in a discrete
solid angle

= sin 𝜃 𝛥𝜃𝛥𝜑 . We measu re it at a cert ain distanc e from the sample (in the
far field r egion). A s olid angle

at t he specific coordinates

and

,

is also dep icted in
Figure 4.9 . F igure 4.9 (b) present s a hem isphere where lines wit h c on s tan t

=

=

100
Chapter 4

15°

are s hown. It i s not iceable t hat over t he sphere the areas with con s tan t

and


are different, theref ore they have d ifferent

. For a valid presentat ion of the 3D ADF,
the

shoul d remain constant ov er t he sphere. To en sure t he sam e

 at ea c h
coordinate , the

 shoul d s ta y the same, but

has to be weighted with sin 𝜃 following
the solid angl e formula.
When pre s enting the 3D ADF, our discret e spherical coordinate sys te m is defined
with the angul ar s tep of 1 °:
 i
= 0° , 1°, 2°…90° and
 i
= 0°, 1°, 2°…360° to cov er the
whol e (hemi)sphere, while the s a me
 i
 was set with

=

= 0.5 ° and appropriate
sin 𝜃 𝑖 .

( a)

( b)

Figure 4.9. (a ) C oor d inate system for the ca mera- based system. Spherical and C artesian
coordinates are denoted togethe r with specular directi on. A selected s olid angle area

for 3D
ADF in transmissi on is presented. A g oniometric plane is drawn for f u rther reference . (b) A
hemisphere with li nes with constant

and

. Spherical coordi nates

and

are shown t ogether
with
z
as s pecular direction. The goniome tric plane i s pr es ented with a dotted line.
Below we s h ow the image tran s formation procedure for the transmissi on c a s e
(position T in Figure 4.8). The procedure for reflect ion, however , is the same, just for
the other hem isphere.
4.3.2.2 An gle tran sform atio n/d eterm inati on
Th e s cattered light is projected on the screen that is flat and not hemispherical ,
therefore same

cover different areas on the screen for different
 i
and
 i
. T he fol lowing
procedures have to be c arr ied out to ensur e that t he s catt ered l ight int ensity at a chosen
spherical c oord inate corresponds to the s a me solid angle

and its projection on t he

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
101

screen. First, c entral points of each pixel from the image are positioned in a s pherical
coordinate syst em :

𝑝𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑙 (𝑚, 𝑛 ) → 𝑝𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑙 (𝜃 , 𝜑 )

(4.2)

Indices
m
and
n
determi ne l ateral and vertical p os ition s in a pixel matrix (
m
=
1…1 040,
n
= 1…1392, 1 .4 -Mpixel c a me ra) . Seco nd, pixels with cent ral point coordinates
within certain

re gion are summed . The scattered l ight inten sity in a certain
 i
at a
chosen spheric al coordina te (
 i
,
 i
) is therefore proport ional to the sum of pix el intensities
I pixel
within the
 i
:

𝐼′ ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) = ∑ 𝐼 𝑝𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑙
∆Ω 𝑖 = ∑ ∑ 𝐼 𝑝𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑙 (𝜃 ,𝜑)
𝜑 𝑖 + ∆𝜑
sin 𝜃 𝑖
𝜑 𝑖 =𝜑 𝑖 − ∆𝜑
sin 𝜃 𝑖
𝜃 𝑖 +∆𝜃
𝜃 𝑖 =𝜃 𝑖 −∆𝜃

(4.3)

4.3.2.3 Scr een c har ac teris tics
It is of a key importanc e t o use highl y transmissiv e and diffusive s creens in order
to assure sufficient ly large signal in the case of the s ampl es wit h low scattering level.
Diffusive nature of the screen enabl es that each of t he illuminat ed points on the s creen
directs a portion of l ight towards the camera. From the t rans for mation point of view,
the ideal light scattering distribut ion of t he screen - the ADF of the scree n, ADF screen –
woul d be uniform, i.e. e qual intensit y in all scatt ering angles and inde pend ent on th e
incident angle of the ill u mination ray. As this is not the c a s e, the ADF screen ha s t o be
known or det ermined in adv ance.
Two isotrop ic diffusive sc reens were used: a) O p al Diffusing Gl ass (25x30 cm 2 ) [173]
and b) PLEXIGLAS ® (21 x30 cm 2 ) [174]. RTA me a s urement s in a broad wavel ength
range w ere condu cted for both screens, the re sults are prese nted in Figure 4. 10 ( a) and
(b). Both screen s have around 30% tran smission at  = 6 33 nm (l ater used in
measurement s ), such transmi ssion is suffici ent for camera-based mea s uremen ts. At longer
wavel engths, the PLEX IGLAS ® has higher transmi ssion, making it more suitabl e for
NIR measurem ents. Optical losses of transmi ss ive s creen s are presented by reflect ed light
an d internal absorption losses in Figure 4. 10 ( a) and (b). L ow ref lection is desired a s the
reflect ed light can reach the sample and distort the measurement s. This, and the s ize of
the screen , has to be considered when ch oosing the distanc e between the sample and the
screen.

102
Chapter 4

( a)

( b)

( c)

( d)

Figure 4. 10 . RTA measurements of (a) Opal Diffusing Glass and (b) PLEXIGLA S ® .
Goniometric ARS measu rements o f ADF T in a plane at

= 633 nm for (c) O pa l Di ffusing G lass
and (d ) PLEXIGLAS ® at s elected incident a ngles. Cosi ne approximations f or angles 0° and 30°
were a dded. Amplitude peaks (a fter interpolation) dependent on incident a ngle for Opal
Diffusing Glass and PLEXIGLAS ® a re als o shown as inserts in top right c orner i n (c) and (d),
respectively.
For both screens ADF in transmission ADF Tscreen in a horizontal plane - 90°<
 ’
<90°
was measured with the goniometric ARS system, isotropy of the screens was assumed.
Incident angle of the 633 n m laser b eam toward s the sc re en was altered be tween 0° and
60° with a step of 5° to acquire all the needed data, the results for s elect ed inc ident angle s
are presented in Figure 4. 10 (c) and (d). Compa red to the PLEX I GLAS ® , the Opal
Diffusing Glass exhibits almost perfect cosine (Lambert ian) distribut ion (t he cosine
approximation is also plot ted as a reference) . With increasing incident angle a peak
amplitude drops (see insert s t op right corner in F igure 4. 10 (c) and ( d)) a nd angle shift
can be ob s erved.

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
103

As shown, different screens have different ADF s , so ADF Tscreen needs to be incl uded
in the imag e proce ssing procedure. First, for each
 i
( s umm ation area) the resulting
average incident angle
γ in
of the scattered ra ys from the sampl e to the screen i s calcul ated
based on t he s ystem configurat ion. Se cond, f or the same
 i
exiting an gle
γ ex
from the
screen towards the c a me r a is al so cal c ul ated. Bot h angle s are denot ed in Figure 4.8. T h e
γ in
is used to select the appr opriate ADF Tscreen c urv e while
γ ex
defines the scat tering angle
of the sc re en. T h e intensity
I’
(
 i
,
 i
) of each
 i
is then weight ed with the obtained
value. Finall y, the correct s cat tered light intensity , equal to ADF
,
is theref ore:
𝐼 ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) = 𝐴𝐷𝐹 ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) = 𝐼′ ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) /𝐴𝐷𝐹 𝑇𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛 (𝛾 𝑖𝑛 𝑖 ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) , 𝛾 𝑒𝑥 𝑖 ( 𝜃 𝑖 , 𝜑 𝑖 ) )
The screen thicknesse s for Opal diffusing glass and PLEXIGLAS ® are 3 and 5 mm,
respectivel y , the refract ions in side the s cr een may exi s t b ut are neglected in the
calculat ions . As bot h scr eens are commercial ly avail ab le and intended for the general
purpose usage, such as rear projection , no polarization effects due to the screens were
expected or observed in our system. By put ting a polarization filt er after the light source
or the sampl e, one is al s o able to m easure the scattered pol arize d light wit h the camera-
based syste m [158].
4.3.2.4 Ima ge proc ess ing i n gr ap hics
As a c on clusion to the im age proce ssing section, the discussed transfor ma tion s
parameter s are graph ically shown for sys te m configur ation de scribed in the section 4.3.3 .
Figure 4 . 11 (a) show s the number of pixel s summed per sum ma tion area, d etermined b y

= 0.5° and
 =
0.5°. The amount increases a s we move outwards of the perpendicular
direction to the screen, (

,

) = (45°, 1 80° ) where the projection of the solid angle are a
on a (flat) screen surface is the smallest. J u s t around the origin of the coord inate system,
the amount of summed pixel s is the highe s t due to the azimuth angles being s o conge s ted
(see Figur e 4.9 (b) arou nd s pecul ar beam). Figure 4. 11 (b) shows P L EXIGLAS ® s cr een
weight function that can be compo sed f rom t he ADF Tscreen val ues. Th e peak is again at
perpendicul ar incident angle on t he screen, (

,

) = (45°, 180°), outward s of this peak
the v alue decreases, re sult ing in a high er value of the ADF after weight ing. Both figure s
show verti cal symmetry (

= 0°, 180°). T h e edges of the graphs (colored, signal area) are
determined by the camera angle of view (shape of t he sensor) , defining the range of the
single measurement . These ma trice s are dependent on t he system configurat ion (di stances
between the elements) , camera resolution and screen, not on the s amp le, and can
therefore be considered as a c on s tant for the individual system setup conf iguration.

104
Chapter 4

(a)

(b)

Figure 4. 11 . (a) Number of summed pi xels per s ummation area (

i ,

i ) and (b) s creen weig ht
function (

i ,

i ) for PLE XIGLAS ® .
4.3.2.5 Haz e d eter min ati on
Moreover, beside s the determinat ion of the ADF

we also tested whether our system
can be appl ie d to determine the ha ze parameter based on the ADF measur ements. This
requires the measureme nt of the specular component of the light which presents a
chall enge and also affects the accura cy of the haze determination pro c edure [154]. I n this
section we will s how ho w to calculat e it for the case of transmit t ed light, the same
procedure can be foll owe d for the reflect ed light ( subst itution T with R , slight s ampl e
rotat ion is needed so th at the specular beam can be caught on the screen instead of
passing back through the hole). O ur approach t o the measurements of the s p ec ul ar
component will be described in the result s section. Haze in tran smission is defined as [12]:

𝐻 𝑇 = 𝐼 𝑇𝑑𝑖 𝑓
𝐼 𝑇𝑡𝑜𝑡 = 𝑇 𝑑𝑖𝑓
𝑇 𝑡𝑜𝑡 = 𝑇 𝑑𝑖𝑓
𝑇 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐 + 𝑇 𝑑𝑖𝑓

(4.4)

where
I
Tdif and
I
Ttot are d iffuse and total l ight sc att ering intensities. When us ed in
a ratio we can de s cribe haze with diffuse and tota l (
T
dif and
T
tot ) transmitt ance, where
T
tot consists of diffuse and specular (
T
spec ) part. This me an s measurement s with the
camera must be in our system perfor med without a blockin g pin on screen to capt ure the
specular part. How ever, camera saturation must be avoided (see section 4.3.3.2) . The
values for
T
dif and
T
tot

are in general obtained by integrating the diffuse and specular
light over t he hemispher e [154]:

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
105

𝑇 𝑑𝑖𝑓 = ∫ ∫ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 (
360°
0
90°
𝜃 𝑖 +1 𝜃 , 𝜑 ) sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜃𝑑𝜑

(4.5)

𝑇 𝑡𝑜𝑡 = ∫ ∫ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 (
360°
0
𝜃 𝑖
0 𝜃 , 𝜑 ) sin 𝜃 𝑑𝜃𝑑𝜑

(4.6)

The symbol
 i
denot es t he boundar y angle b etween the specular and diffu s e part.
In case of light scatterin g by isotropic sample, th e azimuth component can be neglect ed
and the integral s can be s impl ified into foll owing auxiliary equation s :

𝐴𝐷𝐹 3𝐷 ( 𝜃 ) = 2𝜋 ∗ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 1𝐷 ( 𝜃 ) ∗ ( cos ( 𝜃 − 𝛥𝜃 ) − cos ( 𝜃 + 𝛥𝜃 ))

(4.7)

𝑆𝐵𝑉 = 𝜋 𝛥𝜃 2 ∗ ∑ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 (0, 𝜑 )
360°
0

(4.8)

ADF 1D is the average line and is extracted by averaging the 3D ADF for eac h


through all

that we measured with the system. ADF 1D is then tran s for med to ADF 3D
where we expand the lin e over the whole hemisphere [ 1 2] .

was set at 0.5°. Specular
beam value (SBV,

= 0°) in ADF 3D is 0 becau se of the cosine part, therefor e we calculat e
SBV by s u mming all the azimuth val ues for polar angle

= 0° and weighti ng it with the
solid angle a beam with 2*

= 1° woul d cover. The spec ul ar and diffu s e component are
then calcul ated as foll ow ing:

𝑇 𝑑𝑖𝑓 = ∑ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 3𝐷 (𝜃 )
90°
𝜃 =𝜃 𝑖+1

(4.9)

𝑇 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐 = 𝑆 𝐵𝑉 + ∑ 𝐴𝐷𝐹 3 𝐷 (𝜃)
𝜃 𝑖
𝜃 =1

(4. 10 )

4.3.3 R esu lts a nd di scu ssi on
The applicabil ity of the presented sys te m is demonstrat ed on two different l ight
scattering s a mples: for transmittance measuremen ts we s elected a textur ed transparent
conductive oxide (TCO) , us ed as a substrate in thin-film solar cells, and for reflectance a
periodicall y textured s ilic on s a mple. The SEM images of the tested samples are s h own in
Figure 4. 12 .

106
Chapter 4

(a)

(b)

Figure 4. 12 . SEM/AFM images o f (a) textured TC O - magnetron sputte red ZnO: Al, etched in
HCl for 3 0 sec onds and (b) f or periodi c hexa gonal hole a rray wi th a period o f 1500 nm a nd d epth
of 5 50 nm o n silicon subst rate. Ma in planes of the sa mple a re drawn for further re fer e nce (a =
750 nm and b = 1299 nm).
4.3.3.1 3D an gular dis tri butio n f unc tion
For t he mea s urem ents present ed bel ow, the distance between t he s ampl e and t he
screen was s et to 11 .4 cm in s pecul ar direction (direction of the laser b eam) to avoid
strong reflection relation bet ween t he s creen and the sample. The distance between the
screen and the camera was 35.7 c m so that all po lar angl es could be c aptured with our
camera. HeN e g as laser with a

 = 6 3 3 n m and P = 10 mW was used in the
measurement s. Ot her lasers/w avelengths can also be used, w ith screen cha racteristics

(a)

(b)

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
107

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

Figure 4. 13 . T ransmi ttance meas ur e ment r es ults for ZnO:A l, etched i n HCl f or 3 0 sec onds, for


= 633 nm wi th PLE XIGLAS ® as a screen: (a ) image fr om the camera, (b) measured 3D ADF T ,
single mea surement M 1 (c) 2 mea surements M1+M2 combined where the sa mple wa s rotated
for 18 0°. (d) Comparison be tween c amera -ba sed ARS and goniomet ric ARS. Red and green solid
lines from (c) match those i n (d ). (e) Average line scan and standa rd uncertaint y a t ea ch polar
angle f o r the selec ted sample obta ined fr om 12 meas urements with PLE XIGLAS ® a s a screen.
Comparison bet ween the mea surement results with b oth screens for three d ifferent TC O samples.
The grey areas in ( d ), (e) and (f) show whe re th e e rror d ue to the blocking pin and spike just
after it is.
(ADF Tscre en ) accordingly applied. The samples were perpendicul arly illuminated.
Normall y , camera integr ation time varie s between 0.5 and 2 sec on ds, depending on
scattering abilities of the sample, the power of t he laser and the s creen used. All the
images are t herefore time normal ized to gain comparative re sults.
First, we s how the result of 3D ADF T for ma gn etron sputt ered ZnO:Al, etched in
HCl for 30 second s , exhi biting crater like rando m textur ization with vertical root-mean-

108
Chapter 4

square roughne ss of around 11 0 nm [14]. PLEXIG LAS ® was used a s a scree n here. Figure
4. 13 (a) s how s raw image a s c a ptured with the camera before an y pro c e ss ing, c a me ra
integration time was
t
= 0. 25 s. Quasi-ell iptic bright area and dark black s pot , where the
pin blocks the specular beam, can be observed . After applying the transfor mations
described in section 4.3.2 an expected circular patt ern (rotationall y s ymmet ric isot ropic
scattering) is acquired (Figure 4. 13 (b)) . A much lower signal at the pos ition of the
specular bea m (0, 0) i s a resul t of a pin bl ocking the s pecul ar beam. T h is figure also
shows t he availabl e range of the singl e measurem ent (M1 ) of t he setup fo r the sel ected
distance s between the elements, which is 0° <

<90° and approximatel y 130°<

<230° .
Confined by the r e c tangul ar shape of the camera sensor (before the imag e proce ssing),
the polar angl es increase from 45° at

 ° (270 °) to 90° at

 ° (23 0°).
Greater angular range can be obtain ed by e.g. one additional me a s ur ement by
rotat ing the sample for 180° (M 2) and recapturing the screen image with the camera;
this is presented in Figure 4. 13 (c ). This way with our s etup only a minor part of the
hemisphere was not measured (white/l ight grey area in Figure 4. 13 (c)), but coul d be
fully measured by additional rotation of the s a mple by 90° (M3) and 270° (M4). T h e lines
denote the range of the individual measurem ent (M1, M2, M3 and M4) if all four
measurement s would hav e be en performed. Neverthel ess , rot ational symmet ry in t he 3D
ADF of t he sample can clearly be obser ved with two and even o ne measurement. To
validat e the system , c onv entional goniometric ARS system was used as a ref erence, wher e
the scattering in a selected plane (denoted in Figure 4.9) p erpendicular to the sampl e is
measured. A s can from s uch measurement was compared with line s cans at

= 1 8 0°
(M1 ) and

= 0° (M2) from 3D ADF T and shown in Figure 4. 13 (d). B esides the
differences around angle 0 ° due to the blocking pin and the spik e just a fter (the area
where greater error appears was marked grey in Figure 4. 13 (d), (e) and (f)), good
matching betw een both measurement s i s obt ained. W hile the matching is not 100%, it is
more than sufficient for the inspection system s in photovol taics where fast throu ghput
often prev ai l s over a c cur ac y.
For the selected sample and PLEXIGLAS ® as a screen, we also investigat ed the
uncertainty of the measurement s. 12 mea s urem ents were carried out under the s ame
conditions, from which th e average value and s tan dard deviation at each scattering angle
were calcul ated. The s ta ndard deviation wa s then used as a s tandar d uncertainty. T he
results are shown in Figure 4 . 13 (e). The average val ues are presented as an ADF curve
and the standar d uncertaint y with error bars. We can conclude good repe atability and

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
109

low s tandar d uncert ai nt y of the measure me nt system, which combin ed with the obtained
good matching validates the system.
To compare the performance of the two analyzed screens, the light scatt ering fro m
three ZnO :Al samples wit h different etching time s (30 s, 20 s and 10 s,
σ
RMS val ues 110
nm, 90 nm and 50 nm, respectively) was me a s ur ed u s ing bot h sc re ens. The line scans
from the obtain ed 3D ADF T are compar ed in Figure 4. 13 (f). Measureme nts with both
screens result in v ery similar ADFs, making them bot h suitabl e f or the ADF
measurement s i f t heir characteri s tic s are a ccordingl y applied.
Second, reflection measur ements will be p re sented on a case of a periodic hexagonal
hole array on silicon substrate wit h a period of 1 500 nm and depth of 550 n m
(commercial ly available sample [175]). The system was also successful ly calibrated by
linear 1D gratings. How ever, c o mpared to periodic 1D gratings, periodi c s ampl es with
2D hexa gonal grating scatt er light not only in one plane but in space. Thi s make s them
perfect candidate s to show the advantage of t he camera - ba sed 3D measurement s ystem
which enabl es us detect ing multipl e spatiall y distrib uted modes wit h a single
measurement . Foll owing the diffraction grating equation, different modes at different
polar angl es can be calcul ated for the selected sample (T abl e 4 . 5).
Table 4.5. Calculated modes for hexagonal hol e a rray with a period o f 1500 nm for

= 6 3 3 nm.

Mode order

Effective p eriod,
d

(nm)

Notation on F igure
4. 12 (b)

Mode angle,

(°)

1

1500/ 2=750

a

57.57

1

1500* √ 3 /2 =1299

b

29.16

2

1500* √ 3 /2=1299

b

77.05

The mode angle s for th e inspected s ampl e were calculated using the dif fraction
grating equat ion [176]:

𝜃 = arcs in 𝑚𝜆
𝑑

(4. 11 )

Symbol

denote s t he scat tering mode angle ,
m
is t he mode order,
d
is th e per iod
or as is the case with 2D gratings, the effective period as the distance between the plane s
rather than the period has to b e considered . Two main effective periods,
a
and
b
shown

110
Chapter 4

schematical ly on SEM image in F igure 4 . 12 ( b) with corre s pond ing planes, wer e used in
calculat ions . I ncident wavelengt h

= 633 n m in air was assumed .

(a)

(b)

Figure 4. 14 . Ref lecta nce of hexagonal hole ar ray (period 1500 nm) for

= 633 nm: (a) measured
3D ADF R and (b) simulated 3D ADF R . Opal Diffusing Glass wa s used as a screen,
t
= 0.1 s. In
figure (a) red lines with

as c alculated in Table 4.5 wer e a dded to the plot f or valida tion.
Figure 4. 14 (a) shows the measured 3D A DF R of the periodic sample. Opal
Diffusing Glass was u sed as a screen , camera integrat ion time was
t
= 0.1 s. The measured
modes are in good agreement with the calc ulat ed modes – the red lines with

as
calculat ed in Table 4.5 w ere added to the plot. I n addition, for this sample we simulated
the 3D ADF R using combined FEM (finite ele me nt method) and Huygens expansion
approach [1 77], providing t he additional val idation of the system ( Figure 4. 14 (b)).
As previou s ly mention ed, all the measurements were carried out under
perpendicul ar illumination. With presented camera-based sys tem , light scattering at
different non-perpend icular illumination angles can al s o be measured. Si nce the non-
perpendicul ar illuminatio n will most likel y cause asymmetrical ADF pat tern, both sides
have to be measured ra ther than rotating the sample. T h erefore , the screen and/or
camera have to be placed on the ot her s ide (rotat ed for 90° - manual ly or by rotating
arm), with the camera looking perpendicul arly at the screen and the screen angl e b ei ng
45° at the sample at any illumination angle.

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
111

4.3.3.2 Haz e
As a proof of concept, we present the haze obtain ed with our system for t he three
above mentioned Zn O :A l s a mples with different etching times (30 s, 20 s and 10 s),
resulting in different haze s . PLEXIGLAS ® was used as a sc re en for all the haze
measurement s. The diff us e part was measured exactly as described above in s ec tion 4.3.2
(normal, single me asure ment, t = 250 ms). Spe cular part , however, required addit ional
measurement s due to s t rong specular component . The specular beam ca n exceed the
scattered light inten s ity by a few decades depen ding on the scattering abilities of the
sample and would in normal (ADF) mea s urement cause saturation of the camera.
Therefore, mult iple images are needed to gradually measure the specular beam - the peak
itself and the small area just around the peak. This way we get the signal to fill the bl ac k
spot cau s ed b y the pin (see Figure 4. 13 (a)) and obtain the correct value of the specul ar
beam. If the used camera has higher resol ution as ours (16-bit), singl e mea surement may
be sufficient .
The additional measurements of the specular part were performed without the
blocking pin, but with an attenuat ion filter wi th 9.12% tran smission at 6 33 nm and
decreasing integrat ion times of the camer a (250 ms, 50 ms, 1 ms and 0.5 ms ) to prev ent
camera saturation. All images were n ormalized wit h camera int egration t ime and
composed together. After the new ful l image w as ac quired, the haze was determined as
explained in section 4.3.2.5. Following the result s shown in Figure 4. 13 , rotational
symmetry wa s assumed f or al l t hree samples. Simpl ified equat ions for av erage l ine scan
were corre spondingly app lied. The bound ary angle
 i
was set to 4 °, correspond ing to the
opening size in the int egrating sphere.

Figure 4. 15 . Haze cu rve o btained with La mbda 950. Measerument results obtained wi th camera-
based system are add e d at

= 633 nm .

112
Chapter 4

The haze re s ult s obtaine d from camera- b ased measurement s were co mpa r ed with
measurement s done with spectrophotom eter Lambda 950 and are shown in Figur e 4. 15 .
The haze scans w ith Lambda 950 were done in a broad wavelength range, whil e the
camera-base d haze d etermination wa s carried ou t at the selected wavelength

= 633
nm. 3 camera-ba s ed haze measurement s were done for each sample, al lowing u s to also
plot the error bar. The compari son shows m oderate matching , with the hi ghest
discrepancies for the third sam pl e (red color). T he s yste m is primarily built for the
determination of light s ca ttering – diffu s e part, AD F – for which it shows good accuracy.
The main error in haze determination , however, is caused by the specular part. This
could be due t o the laser in s tabil ity combin ed wit h extremely short c a me r a integration
times (0 .5 – 1 ms). Even smal l errors c an escal ate when they are normalize d by a couple
of decades different f actors. Stil l, t he re s ul ts are g ood enough for the haze es tim ation. As
mentioned abov e, they coul d be improved by u s ing a c a me ra with higher res olut ion.
4.3.4 C onc lus ion
The de sc r ibed camera-based ARS system using a t ransmi tt ive screen enables fa s t
and accurat e measurem ents of l ight scattering properties of text ured surfaces and l ight
emitting devic es w ith a single shot in a 3D s pace in broad angular range in a few s econds.
We presented the solution which can be u s ed for measur em ent s of reflected or transmitt ed
scattered or emitted light. The tilted screen position allow s us to measure full polar range
at the cost of the limited azimuthal range. However, with appropriat e (auto ma tic )
rotat ion of the s ampl e scattered light in full s phere ca n be obtained. Additionall y, the
system wa s also appl ie d to the determin ation of ha ze parameter at the wave length of the
laser light.
Measurement s of two types of scattering s ampl es were presented. Randomly
text ured ZnO:Al was used to show, how to acquire full s phere 3D
ADF
by rotating the
sample. Characterizat ion of periodicall y t extured silicon sub s trat e was u s ed to
demonstrat e the advant age of using s pat ial (camera- ba s ed) sys tem s instead of
conventional goniometric systems. W ith one measurement we w ere able to detect all the
modes of the periodi c sample in the angular range of the measurement . Goniometri c
system, toget her with s im ulations, wa s used for vali dation of the n ewly developed system.
Comparison w ith other methods showed good mat ching.

Camera-ba s ed l ight scattering mea s ure ment systems
113

4.4 Su m mar y
In thi s chapter, we presented 2 c amera- ba s ed light scat tering me asure ment systems.
Compared to the convent ional goniometric systems, the described camera - ba s ed ARS
systems enabl e fast and suf ficie ntl y accurate measurements of light scattering propertie s
of text ured s urface s and light em itting devices with a s ingle s h ot in a 3D space in broad
angular range within a few s econd s. B oth systems were described along with all the
transformation s n eeded to ext ract the 3D

ADF
.

The first system is based on a reflect ive s creen and uses a len s to broade n th e range
of t he measurement. The system was tested on t hree TCO samples and a reference l ight
source. All the necessary transformat ions were exp lained and sensitivity ana lys is wa s also
carried out. The re s ults show go od matching wit h the r esults obtained with the
conventional ARS system. T he range of the pre sented system can be ex tended b y using
a camera lens with a wider angle of view. The r esolut ion of the s yste m can also be simply
improved by using a CCD camera with a higher r es olut ion.
The second system is based on a t ransmissiv e screen and can be u sed for
measurement s of ref lected or transmit ted s catt ered or e mi tt ed light . The tilted sc reen
position allows us to measure t he full polar range at the cost of the limited azimuthal
range. However , with the appropriat e (aut omatic) rotat ion of the sample, scatt ered l ight
in a full s phere can be obtained. Addit ionally, the sys te m wa s also appl ie d to the
determination of the haze para me ter at the wavel ength of the la s er light. Measure me nt s
of two t y pe s of scattering samples were presented. Randoml y textur ed ZnO:Al was u sed
to show how to acquire a ful l sphere 3D ADF by rot ating the s a mple. The
characterizat ion of a periodically text ured silicon substrate wa s used t o de monstrate the
advantage of using spatial (c a me ra-ba s ed) sy s tems instead of convention al goniometric
systems. With one mea surement we wer e able t o detect all the modes of the p eriodic
sample i n the angular range of t he me as urem ent. The goniometric system, toget her with
simulat ions, w as used for validat ing the new ly devel oped system. Th e c ompari s on w ith
other method s showed good mat c h ing.
The developed camera-based ARS systems are powerful tool s for the
characterizat ion of a versatil e s et of different samples or illuminat ing devices , or as
inspection tools in the high throughput indus trial production. Rando mly, periodically and
quasi-period ic all y textur ed s ample s or light sources, su c h as LEDs, can be characteri zed
accurately and in a very short ti me (second s ). The 3D

ADF of the scatt ered light or t he

114
Chapter 4

luminous intensit y distri bution of light sources can be easil y determ ined with only one
measurement , whereas wit h a conventional line-scan ARS system several time -c on s u mi ng
measurement s are required.

115
5 C o nclu sio ns an d o ut loo k
5.1 Ge ne ral c onc lusi on
Light ma nag ement is an effective way of improving the photovol taic device
performance, either thro ugh reduced ref lection (a nti-reflection effe c t) or light scat tering.
The anti-reflection incre as es the light in- couplin g, while scattered light has a longer
optical path in the activ e layer; consequent ly, a higher amount of photon s is absorbed .
Commonl y , light management is induced by (nano- , micro- ) textured surfaces which
cause both anti-refl ection and light scattering. In the dissertat ion, we focus ed on the
fabrication and the chara cterization of the textures for light management in photov oltaic
devices. The content of the dissertat ion was divided int o three m ai n c ha pters that cover
three t opics – UV Nanoimprint Lithograph y ( UV N IL) as a t ool for creation of
(replicated) text ures, perov s kite solar cell s as photovoltaic devices , t o which light
ma nagement f oil ha s b een applied, and camer a -ba s ed s yste ms for l ight scattering
measurement a s a charact erization technique.

In the second chapter, w e presented how to create tex tures that can be integrat ed
into a device struct ure. F or that, we utilized UV NIL which is a r eplication process of a
surface text ure from a master vi a stamp to the fi nal substrate (replica) . This way it is
possible to simplify the introduction of tex tured surfaces into a device structure. The
text ure is creat ed from a transpar ent polymer lacquer which enables us t o implement
text ures that can otherw ise only be made on non-transparent s ub s trat e s. Howev er, the
UV NIL process is applicabl e only up to 200 °C. T he replicat ion process is simple and
fast which significantl y shortens the time and costs of texture creation, since from one
expensive ma ster lots of cheap and high-f idelity replica s can be creat ed.
The t ransmittance and the AFM mea s urem ents were u sed to analy ze the creat ed
replicas. T o speed up the analysis of the AFM measure ments , a software “AFM analyzer”
was devel oped and its funct ionalities were descr ibed. Measurement s confirmed a good

116
Chapter 5

transfer fidelity, even after multiple use of a stamp, and a thermal stability up to 200 °C .
However, longer exposure to 200 °C al ready causes yellowing effect. B oth option s, the
replica inside and outside the device in superstrat e configuration, were looked into.
Outdoor te s ting reveal ed moderate durabil ity of the lacquers used. The textur e roughness
was in general preserved , however, a lot of part ic les stuck firmly on the surface and the
heat sl ightly melt ed the text ure. This resul ted in a l ower diffus e t ransmitta nce. Another
downside was the yellowing effect that reduced t he transmit tance and scat tering in the
UV -blue wavel ength ran ge. However, the electric al mea s urem ents of the perovsk ite solar
cells using a textured UV NIL layer as a light managemen t ( LM ) foil s howed an
improvement in short-circuit current density. As the replicas can also be used as a
scattering layer inside t he d evice, w e dep osited a t ransparent c ondu ctive oxide G ITO on
top of the repl ica. M easurements s h owed a moder ate sheet resistance, good transmissio n
and c onformal growth, with no damage done to the text ure or its s mo othening due to
the sputt ering and anne aling of GITO. The re s u lts demonstrate t he suitabil ity of the
replicas for furt her use in photovolt aic devices . Howev er, to e xpl oit the LM foil benefits
for a longer time, l acquers w ith a more s tabl e chemical composit ion that do not yellow
are needed.

In th e third chapt er , a ne w class of photovolt aic de vices was presented , namel y t he
perovskite s ol ar cell s . The perovskites, as an absorb er material , gain ed pop ularity due t o
their excellent optical and electrical propert ies that res ult ed in an unprecedent ed rise in
efficiency, reachin g 22.1% in 2016. Since the light management in t he perovskite s olar
cells has not been ext ensively researched y et, w e chose the m as the photovolt aic device s
in our research .
We started b y describing the perov s kite cry s tal ma terial characteristic s and the
optical and electrical properties. We introduced perovskite single junction an d tande m
devices. Special focus was put on single junction devices based on PTAA as a hole
transport material (HTM) . The experi me ntal fabrication was pre s ented in det ai l. The
hypophosph orous acid (HPA) was studied a s an additive t o perovskite for a better film
formation. The morphol ogy was improv ed; howev er, the electrical performance s ta yed
largel y the s ame, regardl ess of HPA. Both devices, without and with HPA, performed
well and reached high conversion efficien cies under STC abov e 15%.

Conclusion
117

Using UV NI L, an LM foil with a random pyramid text ure was created in at tempt
to furt her im prove devic e performance and also test the suitabil ity of UV NIL repl ic as
as LM foils on top of the front glass s ide. P rom ising results were obtain ed f or t wo planar
device designs, one with P T AA and one with PEDO T:PSS as HTM . In bot h c a s e s the
reflect ion was drasticall y reduced. However , the absorption increa se in the active layer
was low er than expected. This wa s attribut ed to refracted light escaping the device before
reaching the a ctive layer.
To confirm the light escaping assumpt ion, in the third part of the chapter we
studied fabricat ed device s using optical simulat ions . The optical model and the input
parameter s were first validat ed by a good match between the simulations an d the
experiment s . T he result s indeed confirmed that small area devic es, like our fabricated
ones, suffer from l ight escaping when the LM foil is appl ie d . Det ailed simulations reveale d
that a relative boost in p hotocurrent of ca. 1 0% rel ative is feasible for large area d evices.
The result s confirmed that by using text ures, the planar device s can be drastical ly
improved. Optical simulations w ere also used to stud y perov s kite/ silicon -heteroj unction
tandem devices. Different configurations were te sted. Derived from the planar dev ic e ,
devices bu ilt on a back -side and both- s ide textur ed Si wafer were analyzed. The latter
can achieve a 1 5% relative higher efficien cy. Appl ied on the pl anar device , the LM fo il
with different textures w as also simulat ed, showing po sitive results. Both the experim ents
and the simulat ions show ed an improved devi ce p erformance when using a LM foil with
any textur e. T herefore , we recommend using text ured LM foils in perovskite solar cell
devices.

Textured surfaces can be characteri ze d by different charact erization tech niques.
Since the main rol e of the texture is to reduce the reflection and prolong t he optical pat h
in the active la yer, light scatt ering and its angul ar distribut ion are some of the mo s t
important and tel ling properties of the texture. The c onventional way of determinin g the
angular distribution funct ion (ADF) of the scattered light is the goniometric
measurement which is very time-consu mi ng and measures the ADF in one plane only.
To counter these two pro blems, we focu s ed on the development of a camera-based system.
In the camera-based syst em, the scatt ered light is project ed on the screen and then
captured with a d igi tal c amera. In the fourth chapt er, we present tw o solutions, one
based on a reflective s cr een and one on a tr an smissive. T he system with a reflective
screen uses a len s to w iden the angular ran ge of the measurement. I n the system with a

118
Chapter 5

transmissive screen, the wide angular range was reached by positioning the screen at 45°.
The tilted screen position allows us to measure t he ful l polar range at the cost of the
limited azimuthal range, which is solved by taking multipl e images. Both described
camera-base d ARS sy s tems enabl e fas t and accu rate measurement s of light s cat tering
properties of text ured surfaces and light emitting device s with a single shot in a 3D space
in a broad angular range in a few s econd s , prov iding a clear advantage over the
goniometric systems.
The two camera-based systems were validat ed u s ing the goniomet ric system. A
good match between all the systems was obtaine d when analyzing textured TC Os and
silicon substrat es. T he d eveloped system, ba s ed on a transmissive s creen, was then used
to characterize t he UV NIL replica s but can also be used for the characteriz ation of light
sources. Since the camera-ba s ed systems are fast and s ufficient ly accurat e, they are
suitable for indu strial inspect ion.
5.2 Ou tlo ok f or f utu re rese ar ch
Th roughou t the dissertation the focus was on text ured s urfa ces for light
management in phot ovoltaic device s. E xper imentally, onl y the random crater-like texture
from etched ZnO:Al and the randomly di s tribut ed pyramids from etched silicon wafer
were an alyzed. Thi s leave s us w ith lots of other textur es , both rand om and periodic, that
can b e tested in pr actical appl ications. Some of t hem hav e already been analyzed using
optical simul ations and show ed better performan ce than randoml y d istributed pyra mi d s
from silicon wafer. We have also s how n that the U V Nanoimpr int Lithography is a
compatibl e and suitable process of i mplementing the text ure int o the device s tru c tur e as
an LM foil, either a s a t op anti-reflection foil or inside as a scat tering layer. Providing
there is a ma s ter, any texture can be replicate d and simulations can be used as a
predictive tool. If integ rated in a device , simul ated resul ts can be experiment ally
confirmed.
The field of perovskite solar cells also offers plent y of possibilities. The device
fabrication can be improved by trying different hole an d electron tran s port ma terial s and
by optimizing perovskite conver s ion. New ma teri als and technique s coul d l ead not only
to higher conversion efficiencies but also to an improv ed s tabil ity and repeatabilit y of
the fabrication proce s s. T he optical simulation s can s erve as a tool to f ind the best
performing text ure. T he validated optical model can be used to optimize the single

Conclusion
119

junction and tande m dev ic es, with and without textures. Especiall y for the tande m
devices t here is still a lot of optimization to be d one and optical s imul a tions can be an
indispensabl e t ool when designing a devic e structure or analyzing it s performance .

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