Defect formation dynamics during CdTe overlayer growth

Abstract

The presence of atomic-scale defects at multilayer interfaces significantly degrades performance in CdTe-based photovoltaic technologies. The ability to accurately predict and understand defect formation mechanisms during overlayer growth is, therefore, a rational approach for improving the efficiencies of CdTe materials. In this work, we utilize a recently developed CdTe bond-order potential (BOP) to enable accurate molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for predicting defect formation during multilayer growth. A detailed comparison of our MD simulations to high-resolution transmission electron microscopy experiments verifies the accuracy and predictive power of our approach. Our simulations further indicate that island growth can reduce the lattice mismatch induced defects. These results highlight the use of predictive MD simulations to gain new insight into defect reduction in CdTe overlayers, which directly addresses efforts to improve these materials. © 2012 American Physical Society.