Deposition and characterization of amorphous silicon with embedded nanocrystals and microcrystalline silicon for thin film solar cells

Ambrosio, Roberto; Moreno, Mario; Torres, Alfonso; Carrillo-Castillo, A.; Vivaldo, Israel; Cosme, Ismael; Heredia, A.

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.11.105

Cited by 22 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…There are multiple works found in the literature in which NCs are produced at low temperature conditions . One way is through the employment of highly hydrogen diluted silane plasmas, which has proven to yield highly crystallized films .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular hydrogen‐induced nucleation of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals at low temperature

Filali

Brahmi

Sib

et al. 2019

Surface & Interface Analysis

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Highly crystallized hydrogenated silicon layers were obtained via the treatment of hydrogenated polymorphous silicon films in a molecular hydrogen ambient. This contrasts other postdeposition studies that obtained nanocrystalline silicon films but necessitated either a plasma activation or high-temperature annealing. The structure of the samples was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy to determine the crystallite volume fraction, which was found to increase up to 80% within 1 hour of treatment.Atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that the roughness of the surfaces was found to increase after the H 2 treatment. Optical transmission and spectroscopic ellipsometry revealed the pronounced porosity of the films characterized by a static refractive index that is below three, which is a low value for hydrogenated silicon films and a void fraction that is around 15% in the bulk of the films. The effect of the hydrogen molecules on the structure of the films was discussed in terms of the compressive stress exerted by the molecules, trapped in structural inhomogeneities, on the amorphous tissue. It is suggested that for this process to take effect, the films need to be porous and that the amorphous network needs to be in a "relaxed" state.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular hydrogen‐induced nucleation of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals at low temperature

Filali

Brahmi

Sib

et al. 2019

Surface & Interface Analysis

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“…It implies that subsequent layers deposited on a flat μc-Si:H active layer will be of better quality and include fewer flaws (pinholes) than those formed on a roughness active layer. [44][45][46]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial Nucleation Approach for Large Grain-Size and High-Quality Microcrystalline Silicon Active Layer in Thin Film Transistors

Choi

Cho²,

Kim³

et al. 2023

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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High mobility and stability are critical factors for thin film transistor (TFT) device quality. These parameters are directly dependent on the crystalline structure of the active layer materials. In this paper, the early nucleation approach was performed for increasing the crystalline grain size of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) active layer for TFT device quality. The crystalline nucleation is delicately regulated in an intense hydrogen plasma environment using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). When compared to μc-Si:H deposition without the nucleation approach, the crystalline volume factor of μc-Si:H increased from 60% to over 80% by using the nucleation technique. The nucleation increases the crystalline grain size by five orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the surface roughness of μc-Si:H is decreased from 13.7 to 7.1 nm. A forming-gas post-annealing treatment (≤ 400°C) is used to minimize defect density. With a low microstructural factor, thermal-treated film quality improves dramatically. Nucleation approach is to be a simple and efficient for producing high-quality TFT devices.

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“…The noncrystalline semiconductors materials also known as "amorphous semiconductors" are usually obtained by the dissociation of gas species using the PECVD technique [21,22]. In these materials the chemical bonding of atoms is a random covalent network; the disorder variation in the angles between bonds eliminates the regular lattice structure of its crystalline counterpart, as is shown in Figure 3.…”

Section: Amorphous Siliconmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We have performed a study of the deposition conditions of pm-Si:H by PECVD [21]. The deposition parameters were varied in order to observe their effect on the structural, electric, and optical characteristics of the films deposited.…”

Section: Deposition Conditions Of Pm-si:hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amorphous, Polymorphous, and Microcrystalline Silicon Thin Films Deposited by Plasma at Low Temperatures

Moreno¹,

Ambrosio²,

ArturoTorres³

et al. 2016

Crystalline and Non-Crystalline Solids

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The present chapter is devoted to the study of amorphous (a-Si:H), polymorphous (pmSi:H), and microcrystalline (μc-Si:H) silicon, deposited by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique at low temperatures. We have studied the main deposition parameters that have strong influence on the optical, electrical, and structural properties of the polymorphous and microcrystalline materials. Our results reveal the key deposition conditions for obtained films with optical and electrical characteristics, which are suitable for applications on thin-film solar cells and semiconductor devices.

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Deposition and characterization of amorphous silicon with embedded nanocrystals and microcrystalline silicon for thin film solar cells

Cited by 22 publications

References 19 publications

Molecular hydrogen‐induced nucleation of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals at low temperature

Molecular hydrogen‐induced nucleation of hydrogenated silicon nanocrystals at low temperature

Initial Nucleation Approach for Large Grain-Size and High-Quality Microcrystalline Silicon Active Layer in Thin Film Transistors

Amorphous, Polymorphous, and Microcrystalline Silicon Thin Films Deposited by Plasma at Low Temperatures

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