From polycrystalline to single crystalline silicon on glass

Large grain μc-Si:H films deposited at low temperature: Growth process and electronic properties

“…These dependencies are well known from literature and explained by the increase of the crystalline fraction with transition from a-Si:H to lc-Si:H and following pinning of the Fermi level position in the upper part of mobility gap by grain boundary (gb) states [13]. It is usually suggested that these gb states can form electrically active complexes with unintentional oxygen [14] and act as a donors like in the case of a-Si:H [15].…”

Nanocrystalline silicon TFT process using silane diluted in argon–hydrogen mixtures

“…For high values of the Ar fraction, it appears that these analyses reveal important traces of oxygen concentration located in grain boundaries region. The grain boundaries could be active by oxygen that could act as electron traps, which could explain the electrical degradation of the TFTs [14]. But these recent results need further analyses and investigations.…”

Solar cell fabricated on welded thin flexible silicon

“…The lateral bonding of several thin single wafers to a band substrate are established by a laser welding process, for further details see [9,10]. Other approaches for lateral bonding are rare, only one other concept exists, and is published by Werner et al [11]. Within this concept the gap between two silicon wafers are closed by lateral epitaxy.…”