Formation of high conductive nano-crystalline silicon embedded in amorphous silicon-carbide films with large optical band gap

Ji, Yang; Shan, Dan; Qian, Mingcheng; Xu, Jun; Li, Wei; Chen, Kunji

doi:10.1063/1.4965922

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, more and more B impurities enter into the cores of Si NCs substitutionally to provide free carriers because of the promotion of crystallization in the present samples as increasing Si/C ratio, consequently leading to a significant increase in carrier concentration. Thus, the conductivity generally determined by the Hall mobility and carrier concentration is improved obviously as increasing Si/C ratio and reached to a maximum value of 87.5 S•cm −1 for the sample with R = 5, which is consistent with the observation from our previous works [19].…”

Section: Room Temperature Electronic Propertiessupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In order to achieve better understandings of the electronic properties in B-doped Si NCs:a-SiC films with various Si/C ratios, room temperature Hall mobility, carrier concentration as well as conductivity were measured as indicated in Table 1. It can be clearly seen that Hall mobility and carrier concentration are gradually promoted from 1.7 cm 2 /V•s and 8.7 × 10 16 cm −3 for the sample with R = 1 to 7.2 cm 2 /V•s and 4.6 × 10 19 cm −3 as the R up to 5, which is consistent with that of doped Si NCs:a-SiC films reported previously [12,19]. Usually, the carrier mobility mainly depends on the defect states associated with the dislocations in Si NCs films, which significantly reduce the carrier lifetime and deteriorate the electrical transport property [26,[28][29][30].…”

Section: Room Temperature Electronic Propertiessupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In previous works, phosphorus (P)-doped Si NCs:a-SiC films were fabricated and both room temperature conductivity and Hall mobility were investigated [19]. For sample with low doping ratio, Hall mobility was improved with temperature, which indicated that the grain boundaries (GBs) scattering and ionized impurities scattering played a critical role in the carrier transport process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Structures, Electronic Properties and Carrier Transport Mechanisms of Si Nano-Crystalline Embedded in the Amorphous SiC Films with Various Si/C Ratios

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent investigations of fundamental electronic properties (especially the carrier transport mechanisms) of Si nanocrystal embedded in the amorphous SiC films are highly desired in order to further develop their applications in nano-electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, Boron-doped Si nanocrystals embedded in the amorphous SiC films were prepared by thermal annealing of Boron-doped amorphous Si-rich SiC films with various Si/C ratios. Carrier transport properties in combination with microstructural characteristics were investigated via temperature dependence Hall effect measurements. It should be pointed out that Hall mobilities, carrier concentrations as well as conductivities in films were increased with Si/C ratio, which could be reached to the maximum of 7.2 cm2/V∙s, 4.6 × 1019 cm−3 and 87.5 S∙cm−1, respectively. Notably, different kinds of carrier transport behaviors, such as Mott variable-range hopping, multiple phonon hopping, percolation hopping and thermally activation conduction that play an important role in the transport process, were identified within different temperature ranges (10 K~400 K) in the films of different Si/C ratio. The changes from Mott variable-range hopping process to thermally activation conduction process with temperature were observed and discussed in detail.

show abstract

Section: Room Temperature Electronic Propertiessupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Room Temperature Electronic Propertiessupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Structures, Electronic Properties and Carrier Transport Mechanisms of Si Nano-Crystalline Embedded in the Amorphous SiC Films with Various Si/C Ratios

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, surplus dopant incorporation influences the structural property of the nc-Si thin film by generating defects that hinder the crystallization of the network and, in turn, reduce the doping efficiency. , Accordingly, integrating an optimum number of electrically active dopants in the nc-Si lattice to accomplish superior doping effects remains the primary task via proper optimization of the growth parameters. In the past, a higher doping level in the n -nc-Si thin film was attained by two-step procedures, viz., growth of the doped a-Si film in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system and securing crystallinity in the doped amorphous matrix via employing the postdeposition high-temperature (∼1000 °C) annealing or laser-induced annealing. , However, these steps are substantially inconvenient in fabricating the stacked-layer devices, as those affect the properties of the already grown layers and impede the utilization of lower-melting-point flexible polymer substrates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superior Phosphorous Doping in Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films and Their Application as Emitter Layers in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Das

Patra

2023

Energy Fuels

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phosphorous doping in the nc-Si network induces gradually reduced crystallinity; however, preferential growth along <220>-oriented crystallites promotes the columnar-like growth morphology. At optimum doping, substitution by donor P+-atoms in the c-Si lattice contributes surplus free electrons and high carrier mobility, resulting in superior electrical conductivity in the n-nc-Si network. An elevated doping leads to incorporating elemental P0 atoms in the interstitial position or forming P–Si–H clusters and generating voids between the crystalline columns. Segregation of defects contributes to decreasing carrier mobility and reducing conductivity after diminishing crystallinity and narrowing the optical band gap. By precisely controlling the growth at 250 °C and efficient electrically active doping by P+-atoms, n-nc-Si thin films with superior dark conductivity (∼101 S cm–1) are produced in which the percolation of charge carriers through the crystalline columns could facilitate stacked-layer devices. The optimum n-nc-Si thin films are used as the emitter layers in n-nc-Si/p-c-Si heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs). Furthermore, an ultrathin a-Si:H buffer layer on the p-c-Si minimizes the junction carrier recombination loss, and subsequent postdeposition short-time H-plasma treatment (PSHPT) ensures seeds for superior nanocrystallization in the n-nc-Si emitter layer. The n-nc-Si/(PSHPT)i-nc-Si(buffer layer)/p-c-Si HJSC delivers a PV conversion efficiency, η ∼12.35%, via a reasonable fill factor of ∼0.647 and sensible JSC of ∼32.75 mA cm–2. Further improvement in the PV performance could be possible using suitably thinner p-c-Si wafers, harmonizing with the effective carrier diffusion length, and fabricating a high-quality passivation structure on the backside.

show abstract

“…Parida et al synthesized 3C-SiC nanoparticles in the Si solar cell prepared by PECVD and investigated that the nc-Si reduces the re ection of light from the surface [8]. Ji et al investigated high conducting nc-Si(SiC) enhances the optical properties and obtained carrier mobility 630 s/cm [9].Swain et al were studied in structural properties of nc-Si(SiC)deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Here, we compare to analyze crystallite size among small-angle x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and X-ray diffraction of nc-Si embedded in the SiCmatrix [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process Dependent Strain Behaviour, Fractal Analysis, and Bonding Network of Nc-Si(SiC) Thin Films

Swain

2021

Silicon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nanocrystalline silicon embedded silicon carbide, nc-Si(SiC) thin lms were deposited on p-type silicon substrates by using a thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with different process temperatures varied from 700-1000 o C. The SEM images reveal the Si particles are embedded with SiC thin lms. The estimated lattice-strainof nc-Si(SiC) thin lms from Williamson-Hall and Scherer formula was varied from 0.00227 to 0.00469 and 0.000855 to 0.00574 respectively. The Raman signature at the 1346.19 cm − 1 , 1491.78 cm − 1 and 1570.94 cm − 1 bonding correspond to D, G-Si and G peaks respectively. The estimated band gap from Tauc's plot of nc-Si(SiC) thin lms are 3.17 to 2.87 eV respectively with increasing of process temperature. The observed crystalline size of nc-Si in nc-Si(SiC) is from 21 nm to 27 nm from 700 to 1000 o C respectively. The possible bonding network of core-orbital of Si(2p), C(1s), and O(1s) in the C: ZnO thin lms have been discussed by deconvolution with the Origin 2018.

show abstract

Formation of high conductive nano-crystalline silicon embedded in amorphous silicon-carbide films with large optical band gap

Cited by 13 publications

References 33 publications

Structures, Electronic Properties and Carrier Transport Mechanisms of Si Nano-Crystalline Embedded in the Amorphous SiC Films with Various Si/C Ratios

Structures, Electronic Properties and Carrier Transport Mechanisms of Si Nano-Crystalline Embedded in the Amorphous SiC Films with Various Si/C Ratios

Superior Phosphorous Doping in Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films and Their Application as Emitter Layers in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Process Dependent Strain Behaviour, Fractal Analysis, and Bonding Network of Nc-Si(SiC) Thin Films

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About