Evolution of microstructure and phase in amorphous, protocrystalline, and microcrystalline silicon studied by real time spectroscopic ellipsometry

Collins, R. W.; Ferlauto, André S.; Ferreira, G. M.; Chen, Chi; Koh, Joohyun; Koval, R. J.; Lee, Yeeheng; Pearce, Joshua M.; Wroński, C. R.

doi:10.1016/s0927-0248(02)00436-1

Cited by 322 publications

(237 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In the case of nc-Si:H, the surface roughness is much larger that of a-Si:H and continues to increase with film thickness. 10 As the surface features increase in size, one EMA layer acting as a heterogeneous mixture is not sufficient to model the optical response of surface roughness, therefore this layer is divided into smaller sections as illustrated in Figure 2 …”

Section: Spectroscopic Ellipsometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 Si:H prepared by plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) may exhibit different growth regimesamorphous (a-Si:H), nanocrystalline (nc-Si:H), and mixed-phase (amorphous+nanocrystalline, a+nc-Si:H) -often within the same film as a function of thickness. Several structural transitions may occur during the growth evolution of Si:H. Initially, the film may nucleate as clusters of amorphous-or nanocrystalline-phase material on the substrate surface.…”

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The comparison of the behavior of these transitions as a function of single deposition parameters has been used to produce so-called deposition phase diagrams or growth evolution diagrams, which have guided the development of optimization principles in Si:H-based PV. 10,[21][22][23][24][25] For example, the structural evolution can be controlled by diluting reactive silicon carrying gases with H 2 during the deposition process. Films prepared at a low H 2 dilution remain amorphous throughout their total thickness, while those prepared at higher dilutions nucleate crystallites.…”

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The [aa] transition has been observed to increase proportionally with H 2 dilution for films that remain amorphous, and the optimum a-Si:H-based PV devices incorporate layers prepared under conditions where the highest H 2 -dilution is used without nucleating crystallites within the thickness desired for the amorphous layer. 10,21,23 Interestingly, optimum nc-Si:H PV devices often incorporate layers prepared at the lowest H 2 dilution where crystallite growth can occur. 22,24,25 The nc-Si:H layers are often fabricated using H 2 -grading approaches in order to manipulate the evolution and degree of crystallinity with the layer.…”

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhanced Growth Rate and Silane Utilization in Amorphous Silicon and Nanocrystalline-Silicon Solar Cell Deposition via Gas Phase Additives

Ridgeway¹,

Hegedus²,

Podraza³

2012

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Section: Spectroscopic Ellipsometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Part 5: Microstructural Evolution Studies -In-situ Measuremementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Enhanced Growth Rate and Silane Utilization in Amorphous Silicon and Nanocrystalline-Silicon Solar Cell Deposition via Gas Phase Additives

Ridgeway¹,

Hegedus²,

Podraza³

2012

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“…-the existence of a crystallization dynamics, i.e., the increase in crystallinity with the increase in film thickness [81];…”

Section: From Amorphous To Microcrystalline Silicon Films Exploiting mentioning

confidence: 99%

From amorphous to microcrystalline silicon: Moving from one to the other by halogenated silicon plasma chemistry

Bruno

Capezzuto

Giangregorio

et al. 2009

Philosophical Magazine

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Amorphous Silicon‐Based Solar Cells

Schiff

Hegedus

Deng

2010

Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering

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Crystalline semiconductors are very well known, including silicon (the basis of the integrated circuits used in modern electronics), Ge (the material of the first transistor), GaAs and the other III-V compounds (the basis for many light emitters), and CdS (often used as a light sensor). In crystals, the atoms are arranged in near-perfect, regular arrays or lattices. Of course, the lattice must be consistent with the underlying chemical bonding properties of the atoms. For example, a silicon atom forms four covalent bonds to neighboring atoms arranged symmetrically about it. This "tetrahedral" configuration is perfectly maintained in the "diamond" lattice of crystal silicon. There are also many noncrystalline semiconductors. In these materials the chemical bonding of atoms is nearly unchanged from that of crystals. Nonetheless, a fairly small, disorderly variation in the angles between bonds eliminates the regular lattice structure. Such noncrystalline semiconductors can have fairly good electronic properties-sufficient for many applications. The first commercially important example was xerography [1, 2], which exploited the photoconductivity of noncrystalline selenium. As do all semiconductors , selenium absorbs those photons from an incident light beam that have photon energies exceeding some threshold energy. The photon that is absorbed generates a positively charged "hole" and a negatively charged electron that are separated and swept away by the large electric fields used in xerography. However, solar cells require that photogenerated electrons and holes be separated by relatively modest electric fields that are "built-in" to the device, and selenium and many other noncrystalline semiconductors proved unsuitable for making efficient cells.

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Evolution of microstructure and phase in amorphous, protocrystalline, and microcrystalline silicon studied by real time spectroscopic ellipsometry

Cited by 322 publications

References 34 publications

Enhanced Growth Rate and Silane Utilization in Amorphous Silicon and Nanocrystalline-Silicon Solar Cell Deposition via Gas Phase Additives

Enhanced Growth Rate and Silane Utilization in Amorphous Silicon and Nanocrystalline-Silicon Solar Cell Deposition via Gas Phase Additives

From amorphous to microcrystalline silicon: Moving from one to the other by halogenated silicon plasma chemistry

Amorphous Silicon‐Based Solar Cells

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