TY - CHAP A1 - Álvarez-García, J. A1 - Izquierdo-Roca, V. A1 - Pistor, P. A1 - Schmid, Thomas A1 - Pérez-Rodríguez, A. ED - Abou-Ras, D. ED - Kirchartz, T. ED - Rau, U. T1 - Raman spectroscopy on thin films for solar cells N2 - In the present chapter, the capabilities of Raman spectroscopy for the advanced characterisation of thin films for solar cells are reviewed. Raman spectroscopy is an optical, nondestructive technique based on the inelastic scattering of photons with elemental vibrational excitations in the material. The line shape and position of the Raman bands are determined by the crystalline structure and chemical composition of the measured samples, being sensitive to the presence of crystalline defects, impurities and strain. Presence of peaks characteristic of different phases also allows for the identification of secondary phases that are strongly related to the growth and process conditions of the films. All these aspects account for a strong interest in the analysis of the Raman spectra, providing a powerful nondestructive analytical tool for the structural and chemical assessment of the films. In addition, the combination of a Raman spectrometer with an optical microscope also allows for achieving a high spatial resolutions (of below 1 µm) when mapping surfaces and analyzing depth-resolved phase distributions in thin films. The present chapter is divided into four main sections: The two first ones are devoted to a revision of the Fundamentals of Raman spectroscopy (Section 17.2) and Vibrational modes in crystalline materials (Section 17.3). Section 17.4 deals with the main experimental considerations involved in the design and implementation of a Raman scattering setup. This is followed by a detailed description of the application of Raman scattering for the structural and chemico-physical analysis of thin film photovoltaic materials (Section 17.5), with the identification of crystalline structure and secondary phases, evaluation of film crystallinity, analysis of chemical composition of semiconductor alloys, characterisation of nanocrystalline and amorphous layers, stress effects and crystal orientations. This includes the description of corresponding state of the art and recent case examples that illustrate the capabilities of the Raman technique for the advanced characterisation of layers and process monitoring in thin-film photovoltaic technologies. KW - Thin-film solar cells KW - Polycrystalline materials KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - Raman microscopy PY - 2016 UR - http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-3527339922.html SN - 978-3-527-33992-1 SP - 469 EP - 499 PB - Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CY - Oxford, UK AN - OPUS4-37451 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -