Nanocrystalline silicon: A material for thin film solar cells with better stability

Sumita, Masao; Chowdhury, Amartya; Ray, Swati

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2007.12.065

Cited by 27 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Fitting these to discrete peaks, after setting a baseline, generally required three Gaussian components apart from the purely amorphous and microcrystaline films that had only two components in this band, see e.g. 16, 24, 25, 28, 35–38. As mentioned above, the highest wavenumber peak could be identified with the familiar crystal Si TO peak at 520 cm −1 , which shifted downwards for all of our samples.…”

Section: Raman Spectroscopy Of Thin‐film Simentioning

confidence: 71%

Raman spectroscopy of thin‐film silicon on woven polyester

Lind

Wilson

Mather³

2011

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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Thin‐film silicon deposited by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD), encompasses both hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) and ‘nanocrystalline silicon’ (nc‐Si), the latter being a two‐phase mixture of discrete nanocrystallites in an amorphous matrix. It is distinguished from a‐Si:H by a characteristic Raman spectrum. As the film structure moves from amorphous to more crystalline, the Raman TO phonon spectral region no longer consists of a broad amorphous peak at ∼480 cm−1 but instead has an obvious narrower peak located at higher wavenumber. The accepted signature peak for nc‐Si lies between these two and most probably arises from the hexagonal, wurtzite structure of the nanocrystals. Here we use Raman spectroscopy to show how the structure of thin‐film silicon on woven polyester is influenced by the substrate as well as by the deposition conditions. We find that the rough surface of the textile substrate enables nc‐Si formation, provided that the correct deposition conditions are employed and that the substrate temperature does not exceed 210 °C. Although the gas mixture is the dominant parameter for determining the film structure, and input power also has a significant effect, we find that a specific combination of these interrelated parameters is essential to control the final structure.

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Section: Raman Spectroscopy Of Thin‐film Simentioning

confidence: 71%

Raman spectroscopy of thin‐film silicon on woven polyester

Lind

Wilson

Mather³

2011

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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“…The attention were directed to nano-structurisation, as the possibility of improving material properties. This led to nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) [2], [3], [4], a two-phase material, where silicon nanocrystallites are uniformly distributed in the a-Si:H or SiO x matrix. On the one hand, their presence increases the stability of the material by reducing the Staebler-Wronski effect, and it is believed that it is related to the additional microstructural stress they bring [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low temperature manufacturing of Si nanocrystallites in the SiO<inf>x</inf> matrix applicable in solar cells

Kołodziej

2013

2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

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Progress in fabrication and application of the nanocrystalline silicon thin films in opto-electronic devices like solar cells, thin film transistors, memory cells, etc., is a way to further enhance their parameters. Those films exhibit increased stability, absorption, carrier mobility. They also exhibit scattering and anti-/reflection properties. This paper is focused on the technology of manufacturing such films by means of Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (RF PECVD). The authors describe the manufacturing process based on periodical variation of the process parameters, such as hydrogen to silane ratio (R h ), gas flows, RF power and pressure in the process chamber, during the deposition process. Additionally, the influence of chamber pre-annealing on resulting type of matrix with nanocrystalline inclusions, a-Si:H or SiO x , and differences between them are discussed. The authors also present the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) analyses and the measurements of typical samples with High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), which confirms the existence of the nanocrystallites in the a-Si:H or SiO x matrix.Index Terms -nc-Si, silicon nanocrystals, plasma deposition, RF PECVD, amorphous and microcrystalline silicon.

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“…12) In particular, the optical band gap of nanoscale Si crystallites depends on crystallite size, and such a relationship can be used to design silicon-based tandem-type solar cells with a high conversion efficiency. 13,14) To vary the band structure in the films successfully, it is important to understand the relationship between the nanostructural features and processing conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Hydrogen Dilution on the Nanostructural and Electrooptical Characteristics of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films Prepared by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

Nam¹,

Son²,

Cho³

2013

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.

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Nanocrystalline hydrogenated amorphous silicon (nc-Si:H) thin films were deposited on silicon wafers and glass by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The hydrogen dilution in the precursor gases, [SiH 4 /H 2 ], were varied from 1 to 0.01 with the other deposition factors kept constant. The nanocrystallite size and volume fraction increased steadily with increasing hydrogen dilution ratio in the gas from 1 to 0.01. The mean size of the nanocrystallites ranged from 1 to 7 nm. The band gap of the films varied according to the hydrogen dilution, indicating the nanostructural features of the films. Film resistivity was dependent on the crystallite size and volume fraction in the films. In particular, the resistivity of a simple P-I-N type device decreased with increasing nanocrystallite size. The increased crystallinity can be explained by the predominance of Si-H bonds in the films. #

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Nanocrystalline silicon: A material for thin film solar cells with better stability

Cited by 27 publications

References 11 publications

Raman spectroscopy of thin‐film silicon on woven polyester

Raman spectroscopy of thin‐film silicon on woven polyester

Low temperature manufacturing of Si nanocrystallites in the SiO<inf>x</inf> matrix applicable in solar cells

Effect of Hydrogen Dilution on the Nanostructural and Electrooptical Characteristics of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films Prepared by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

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