ADVANCED MATERIALS AND DEVICE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES.

Abstract

The range of analytical tools useful to the solar technologies is expansive. An exhaustive (or even less detailed) treatment of all the approaches is not possible in the space available for this chapter. Even the applications of a subset of such analytical methods for all solar technologies is formidable. Therefore, this chapter introduces some of the more utilized (and perhaps more sophisticated) characterization techniques, focusing primarily on those in the compositional, chemical and microelectrical areas. The intent is to provide some understanding of the fundamental principles or physics of each of these methods, their instrumentation, their limitations and their strengths, and the applications to technology development. Although the analytical techniques certainly have applications that span the solar technologies, examples are primarily derived from photovoltaics. Throughout the discussions of this chapter, the complementary application of more than one investigative tool for the complete and unambiguous solution of specific problems is emphasized.