The performance of light-emitting (LEDs) and photovoltaic (PV) devices depends on the quality of the photoactive semiconductor material. The unintentional introduction of defects in the semiconductor material due to material impurities or during the fabrication process causes the deviation from optimal performance.

These defects are referred to as trap states, or in short “traps”, which are energetic states within the bandgap of a semiconductor. In general, traps can occur due to material impurities (in the bulk) or at the interfaces between layers of different materials.

In the following blog post, we will present how to characterize the trap states with the technique called thermally stimulated current (TSC). We also propose a method to reliably interpret the TSC results based on drift-diffusion simulations.

Check the full tutorial here: https://www.fluxim.com/trap-states-perovskite-solar-cells