Preparation of microcrystalline silicon seed-layers with defined structural properties

Vetterl, O.; Hülsbeck, Markus; Wolff, Johannes; Carius, R.; Finger, F.

doi:10.1016/s0040-6090(02)01237-3

Cited by 30 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The For each set of samples, the crystalline volume fraction increases with decreasing SC. As the microstructure is substrate and thickness related [13], the same SC does not necessarily result in the same crystalline volume fraction. Because of that, different direction of aging might result as for SC = 4% sample.…”

Section: Results and Discussion 31 Dark And Photoconductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Instability effects in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin films

Yilmaz

Turan

Güneş

et al. 2010

Phys. Status Solidi (c)

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Instability effects on the dark conductivity (σDark) and photoconductivity (σphoto) of microcrystalline silicon films with different microstructures deposited on smooth and rough substrates, after exposure to different storage conditions have been investigated. Samples stored in vacuum are less affected by aging than films stored in air and sealed plastic bags filled with N2 gas. The aging is reversible after annealing at 450 K. Thin films deposited on smooth and rough substrates with the same thickness and silane concentrations (SC) during the same deposition run showed similar aging effects. Thick samples exhibited a decrease in σDark, while both decrease and increase in σDark occur in thin samples after aging. For each sample, σDark and σphoto presented the same type of aging, independent of thickness and type of substrate used. The applicability of the steady‐state photocarrier grating technique was successfully tested on the rough substrates. Light‐induced degradation studies confirm the dependence of the Staebler‐Wronski effect on the crystallinity of the material (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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Section: Results and Discussion 31 Dark And Photoconductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Instability effects in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon thin films

Yilmaz

Turan

Güneş

et al. 2010

Phys. Status Solidi (c)

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“…The increase in I c is visible for both the 1:200 series between r CO 2 0.5 to 1 and for the 1:500 series between r CO 2 of two and three even for layers of several hundreds of nanometers. Previous studies [22][23][24][25][26] have already shown the critical dependence of the film properties on the "substrate"-layer morphology especially in the transition region between a-Si:H and lc-Si:H growth. These studies show that layers deposited in the transition region grow completely amorphous or microcrystalline in dependence on the crystallinity of the "substrate" layer.…”

Section: Crystallinitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide containing a microcrystalline silicon phase and usage as an intermediate reflector in thin-film silicon solar cells

Lambertz

Grundler

Finger

2011

Journal of Applied Physics

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108

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To further improve the stability of amorphous/microcrystalline silicon (a-Si:H/μc-Si:H) tandem solar cells, it is important to reduce the thickness of the a-Si:H top cell. This can be achieved by introduction of an intermediate reflector between the a-Si:H top and the μc-Si:H bottom cell which reflects light back into the a-Si:H cell and thus, increases its photocurrent at possibly reduced thickness. Microcrystalline silicon oxide (μc-SiOx:H) is used for this purpose and the trade-off between the material’s optical, electrical and structural properties is studied in detail. The material is prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from gas mixtures of silane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Phosphorus doping is used to make the material highly conductive n-type. Intermediate reflectors with different optical and electrical properties are then built into tandem solar cells as part of the inner n/p-recombination junction. The quantum efficiency and the reflectance of these solar cells are evaluated to find optical gains and losses due to the intermediate reflector. Suitable intermediate reflectors result in a considerable increase in the top cell current density which allows a reduction of the a-Si:H top cell thickness of about 40% for a tandem cell while keeping the current density of the device constant.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, microstructure is usually characterized with film's crystallinity measured by a Raman spectroscopy on relatively thick microcrystalline layers [2]. Cross-sectional images taken by SEM also used to understand microstructural growth along thickness direction [2]. In case of rather thin films, measurement with a real time spectroscopic ellipsometry [3] or molecular dynamics simulation for adatom energy [4] has been tried to clarify nucleation behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%