Ellipsometry characterization of a-Si:H layers for thin-film solar cells

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) is a sophisticated technique to find the optical constants, bandgap and microstructure of thin layer. SE is used to study the microstructure evolution in boron-doped amorphous silicon films for different hydrogen flow rates (HFR). Spectral dependance of the real and imaginary parts of pseudo-dielectric constant is obtained at a fix angle of incidence (70°). Tauc–Lorentz (T–L) optical model is used to estimate the thickness, bandgap, optical constant and thickness of the top rough layer of the films, whereas Bruggeman effective medium approximation (BEMA) is applied to find the volume fractions of amorphous, crystalline and void phases. A shift in peak position from 3.65 to 4.1 eV in dielectric constant is observed as the hydrogen flow rate is increased from 30 to 70 SCCM. This is accompanied by the emergence of a peak near 3.4 eV, which belongs to the direct bandgap of c-Si. These observations suggest an improvement in microstructure of the films deposited at higher HFR. It is also supported by the observation that films deposited at higher HFR have higher magnitude of amplitude parameter and less broadening. Fitting of experimental data using BEMA also suggests that crystalline fraction increases and amorphous fraction decreases at higher HFR. The bandgap and thickness of top rough layer estimated from SE data are matched well with those obtained using transmission data and atomic force microscopy.

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