Best practices for the application of temperature- and illumination-dependent current density-voltage $J$($V$,$T$,$i$) and electron-beam induced current EBIC to novel thin film solar cells

Abstract

As the photovoltaic community accelerates the development of new absorber candidate materials towards high-performing PV devices, it is essential to follow best practices and leverage deeper characterization tools. We have identified temperature- and illumination-dependent current density-voltage $J$($V$,$T$,$i$) and electron-beam induced current (EBIC) measurements as two powerful PV device characterization techniques to evaluate the potential of novel absorber candidate materials. Herein, we focus on the experimental methods and best practices for applying $J$($V$,$T$,$i$) and EBIC, addressing particular challenges in sample preparation and mounting. We demonstrate these on the example of tin monosulfide, a promising PV absorber candidate material that shares characteristics of many novel thin-film PV absorbers: mechanically soft, polycrystalline, and used in heterojunction thin-film PV devices.