This is a study of the degradation of amorphous silicon solar cells. The study accessed structural defects and the mechanical stress of solar cells at nanoscale level. Interface morphology, deformation, and internal delamination of the cells were analyzed. Adequate analysis of roughness parameters was performed to investigate the state of degradation of the amorphous silicon solar modules (a-Si:H) used in this study. Roughness parametric test is necessary in thin film solar cells production process because it is used to quantify the relationship that exists between roughness parameters and electrical efficiencies of solar cells. However, in this study, a roughness analysis was not only performed to quantify the performance of the a-Si:H module but to also compliment their mechanical degradation analysis. Roughness indicators such as root means square (RMS) roughness and average roughness were acquired from line profiles. Measurements were taken with scanning probe microscope (SPM) and PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical (QNM) technique was used through the cross sectional area of the analyzed samples. The method was validated with adhesive force and deformation analyses; it was established that high roughness values result from mechanical degradation. Results from the roughness parameters and the mechanical degradation analysis were further observed from in situ measurements and these showed good compatibility. The benefit of this technique is that it provides a good procedure for the evaluation of mechanical degradation without destroying any part of the intrinsic layers in a-Si:H modules.

中文翻译：

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使用扫描探针显微镜对降解的非晶硅组件进行界面评估

这是对非晶硅太阳能电池退化的研究。该研究在纳米尺度上研究了太阳能电池的结构缺陷和机械应力。分析了细胞的界面形态，变形和内部分层。进行了足够的粗糙度参数分析，以研究本研究中使用的非晶硅太阳能电池组件（a-Si：H）的退化状态。粗糙度参数测试在薄膜太阳能电池生产过程中是必需的，因为它用于量化粗糙度参数和太阳能电池的电效率之间存在的关系。但是，在这项研究中，不仅进行了粗糙度分析以量化a-Si：H模块的性能，而且还对其进行了机械降解分析。从线条轮廓中获取粗糙度指标，例如均方根（RMS）粗糙度和平均粗糙度。使用扫描探针显微镜（SPM）进行测量，并使用PeakForce定量纳米力学（QNM）技术通过分析样品的横截面积。结合力和变形分析验证了该方法的有效性。已经确定，高粗糙度值是由机械降解引起的。通过原位测量进一步观察到粗糙度参数和机械降解分析的结果，这些结果显示出良好的相容性。该技术的好处在于，它为评估机械性能提供了良好的流程，而不会破坏a-Si：H模块中本征层的任何部分。