Yield and leakage currents of large area lattice matched InP/InGaAs heterostructures

Demonstrating and harnessing electroluminescent cooling at technologically viable cooling powers requires the ability to routinely fabricate large area high quality light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Detailed information on the performance and yield of relevant large area devices is not available, however. Here, we report extensive information on the yield and related large area scaling of InP/InGaAs LEDs and discuss the origin of the failure mechanisms based on lock-in thermographic imaging. The studied LEDs were fabricated as mesa structures of various sizes on epistructures grown at five different facilities specialized in the growth of III-V compound semiconductors. While the smaller mesas generally showed relatively good electrical characteristics and low leakage current densities, some of them also exhibited unusually large leakage current densities. The provided information is critical for the development and design of the optical cooling technologies relying on large area devices.Peer reviewe

Lock-in thermography: basics and use for evaluating electronic devices and materials

This book discusses lock-in thermography (LIT) as a dynamic variant of the widely known IR thermography. It focuses on applications to electronic devices and materials, but also includes chapters addressing non-destructive evaluation. Periodically modulating heat sources allows a much-improved signal-to-noise ratio (up to 1000x) and a far better lateral resolution compared to steady-state thermography. Reviewing various experimental approaches to LIT, particularly the commercial LIT systems available, this 3rd edition introduces new LIT applications, such as illuminated LIT applied to solar cells, non-thermal LIT lifetime mapping and LIT application to spin caloritronics problems. Numerous LIT investigation case studies are also included

Lock-in thermography: basics and use for evaluating electronic devices and materials

This book discusses lock-in thermography (LIT) as a dynamic variant of the widely known IR thermography. It focuses on applications to electronic devices and materials, but also includes chapters addressing non-destructive evaluation. Periodically modulating heat sources allows a much-improved signal-to-noise ratio (up to 1000x) and a far better lateral resolution compared to steady-state thermography. Reviewing various experimental approaches to LIT, particularly the commercial LIT systems available, this 3rd edition introduces new LIT applications, such as illuminated LIT applied to solar cells, non-thermal LIT lifetime mapping and LIT application to spin caloritronics problems. Numerous LIT investigation case studies are also included

Visualizing the performance loss of solar cells by IR thermography — an evaluation study on CIGS with artificially induced defects

Local electric defects may result in considerable performance losses in solar cells. Infrared (IR) thermography is one im- portant tool to detect these defects on photovoltaic modules. Qualitative interpretation of IR images has been carried out successfully, but quantitative interpretation has been hampered by the lack of “calibration” defects. The aims of this study are to (i) establish methods to induce well-defined electric defects in thin-film solar cells serving as “calibration” defects and to (ii) assess the accuracy of IR imaging methods by using these artificially induced defects. This approach paves the way for improving quality control methods based on imaging in photovoltaic. We created ohmic defects (“shunts”) by using a focused ion beam and weak diodes (“interface shunts”) by applying a femto-second laser at rather low power on copper indium gallium selenide cells. The defects can be induced precisely and reproducibly, and the severity of the defects on the electrical performance can be well adjusted by focused ion beam/laser parameters. The successive assess- ment of the IR measurement (ILIT-Voc) revealed that this method can predict the losses in Pmpp (maximal power extract- able) with a mean error of below 10%