Organometal halide (hybrid) perovskite solar cells have been fabricated following four different deposition procedures and investigated in order to find correlations between the solar cell characteristics/performance and their structure and composition as determined by combining depth-resolved imaging with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The interface quality is found to be strongly affected by the perovskite deposition procedure, and in particular from the environment where the conversion of the starting precursors into the final perovskite is performed (air, nitrogen, or vacuum). The conversion efficiency of the precursors into the hybrid perovskite layer is compared between the different solar cells by looking at the ToF-SIMS intensities of the characteristic molecular fragments from the perovskite and the precursor materials. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in the ST...

We have used Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to investigate strain relaxation mechanism of ${\text{Si}}_{0.22}{\text{Ge}}_{0.78}$ heteroepitaxial layer deposited on Si substrates in tensile, neutral, and compressive strain conditions. The three regimes have been obtained by interposing between the SiGe layer and the substrate a fully relaxed Ge layer, a partially relaxed Ge layer, or growing directly the alloy on Si. We found that the deposition of a Ge buffer layer prior to the growth of the SiGe is very promising in view of the realization of thin virtual substrates on silicon to be used for the deposition of strain-controlled high Ge content SiGe alloys. We demonstrate that this is mainly due to the strain relaxation mechanism in the Ge layer occurring via insertion of pure edge 90° misfit dislocations (MDs) and to the confinement of threading arms in to the Ge layer due to a second MD network formed at the SiGe/Ge heterointerface.

We report an extensive study of strained $\text{Ge}/{\text{Si}}_{0.2}{\text{Ge}}_{0.8}$ multiquantum wells grown by ultrahigh-vacuum chemical-vapor deposition. The microstructural properties of the samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Their electronic properties have been investigated by means of infrared absorption measurements. Both interband and intersubband transitions were analyzed. Intersubband absorption energies were found in the 20–50 meV range, depending on the quantum well width. Interband and intersubband transition energies have been successfully described by means of both a $\mathit{k}\cdot \mathit{p}$ approach and a tight-binding model. In particular, we found a conduction-band offset between the L edges of 124 meV, well suited for the development of optoelectronic devices operating in the terahertz range. We also found that the energy difference between the ${\Delta }_2$ minima in the barrier and the L minima in the well is only $\sim 40\text{meV}$. This explains the observed ineffectiveness of the transfer doping in the strained heterostructures considered.

Ion beam depth profiling is increasingly used to investigate layers and interfaces in complex multilayered devices, including solar cells. This approach is particularly challenging on hybrid perovskite layers and perovskite solar cells because of the presence of organic/inorganic interfaces requiring the fine optimization of the sputtering beam conditions. The ion beam sputtering must ensure a viable sputtering rate on hard inorganic materials while limiting the chemical (fragmentation), compositional (preferential sputtering) or topographical (roughening and intermixing) modifications on soft organic layers. In this work, model (Cs_x(MA_0.17FA_0.83)_100−xPb(I_0.83Br_0.17)₃/cTiO₂/Glass) samples and full mesoscopic perovskite solar cells are profiled using low-energy (500 and 1000 eV) monatomic beams (Ar⁺ and Cs⁺) and variable-size argon clusters (Ar_n⁺, 75 < n < 4000) with energy up to 20 keV. The ion beam conditions are optimized by systematically comparing the sputtering rates and the surface modifications associated with each sputtering beam. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and in-situ scanning probe microscopy are combined to characterize the interfaces and evidence sputtering-related artifacts. Within monatomic beams, 500 eV Cs⁺ results in the most intense and stable ToF-SIMS molecular profiles, almost material-independent sputtering rates and sharp interfaces. Large argon clusters (n > 500) with insufficient energy (E < 10 keV) result in the preferential sputtering of organic molecules and are highly ineffective to sputter small metal clusters (Pb and Au), which tend to artificially accumulate during the depth profile. This is not the case for the optimized cluster ions having a few hundred argon atoms (300 < n < 500) and an energy-per-atom value of at least 20 eV. In these conditions, we obtain (i) the low fragmentation of organic molecules, (ii) convenient erosion rates on soft and hard layers (but still different), and (iii) constant molecular profiles in the perovskite layer, i.e., no accumulation of damages.