Enhancement of electron mobility in nanocrystalline silicon∕crystalline silicon heterostructures

2005 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 024305 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Y. Chen ◽  
W. Z. Shen ◽  
Y. L. He
Keyword(s):  
Electron Mobility ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Heterostructures

Formation of Nanocrystalline Silicon in Tin-Doped Amorphous Silicon Films

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
R. M. Rudenko ◽  
O. O. Voitsihovska ◽  
V. V. Voitovych ◽  
M. M. Kras’ko ◽  
A. G. Kolosyuk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Recrystallization Temperature ◽  
Nanocrystalline Phase ◽  
Silicon Phase ◽  
Silicon Nanocrystallites ◽  
Lower Temperature ◽  
Two Stages

The process of crystalline silicon phase formation in tin-doped amorphous silicon (a-SiSn) films has been studied. The inclusions of metallic tin are shown to play a key role in the crystallization of researched a-SiSn specimens with Sn contents of 1–10 at% at temperatures of 300–500 ∘C. The crystallization process can conditionally be divided into two stages. At the first stage, the formation of metallic tin inclusions occurs in the bulk of as-precipitated films owing to the diffusion of tin atoms in the amorphous silicon matrix. At the second stage, the formation of the nanocrystalline phase of silicon occurs as a result of the motion of silicon atoms from the amorphous phase to the crystalline one through the formed metallic tin inclusions. The presence of the latter ensures the formation of silicon crystallites at a much lower temperature than the solid-phase recrystallization temperature (about 750 ∘C). A possibility for a relation to exist between the sizes of growing silicon nanocrystallites and metallic tin inclusions favoring the formation of nanocrystallites has been analyzed.

Carrier Lifetime Measurements by Photoconductance at Low Temperature on Passivated Crystalline Silicon Wafers

2013 ◽  
Vol 1536 ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Courtois ◽  
Bastien Bruneau ◽  
Igor P. Sobkowicz ◽  
Antoine Salomon ◽  
Pere Roca i Cabarrocas
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Electron Mobility ◽  
Carrier Density ◽  
Carrier Lifetime ◽  
Minority Carrier ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Wafers ◽  
Doping Density ◽  
Lifetime Measurements ◽  
Effective Lifetime

ABSTRACTWe propose an implementation of the PCD technique to minority carrier effective lifetime assessment in crystalline silicon at 77K. We focus here on (n)-type, FZ, polished wafers passivated by a-Si:H deposited by PECVD at 200°C. The samples were immersed into liquid N2 contained in a beaker placed on a Sinton lifetime tester. Prior to be converted into lifetimes, data were corrected for the height shift induced by the beaker. One issue lied in obtaining the sum of carrier mobilities at 77K. From dark conductance measurements performed on the lifetime tester, we extracted an electron mobility of 1.1x104 cm².V-1.s-1 at 77K, the doping density being independently calculated in order to account for the freezing effect of dopants. This way, we could obtain lifetime curves with respect to the carrier density. Effective lifetimes obtained at 77K proved to be significantly lower than at RT and not to depend upon the doping of the a-Si:H layers. We were also able to experimentally verify the expected rise in the implied Voc, which, on symmetrically passivated wafers, went up from 0.72V at RT to 1.04V at 77K under 1 sun equivalent illumination.

Accelerated interface defect removal in amorphous/crystalline silicon heterostructures using pulsed annealing and microwave heating

2009 ◽  
Vol 95 (18) ◽  
pp. 182108 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. F. Schulze ◽  
H. N. Beushausen ◽  
T. Hansmann ◽  
L. Korte ◽  
B. Rech
Keyword(s):  
Microwave Heating ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Interface Defect ◽  
Silicon Heterostructures

p-type nc-SiOx:H emitter layer for silicon heterojunction solar cells grown by rf-PECVD

2015 ◽  
Vol 1770 ◽  
pp. 7-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette A. Gatz ◽  
Yinghuan Kuang ◽  
Marcel A. Verheijen ◽  
Jatin K. Rath ◽  
Wilhelmus M.M. (Erwin) Kessels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Layer ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Emitter Layer ◽  
Heterojunction Solar Cells ◽  
P Type ◽  
Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

ABSTRACTSilicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) with thin intrinsic layers are well known for their high efficiencies. A promising way to further enhance their excellent characteristics is to enable more light to enter the crystalline silicon (c-Si) absorber of the cell while maintaining a simple cell configuration. Our approach is to replace the amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) emitter layer with a more transparent nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H) layer. In this work, we focus on optimizing the p-type nc-SiOx:H material properties, grown by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf PECVD), on an amorphous silicon layer.20 nm thick nanocrystalline layers were successfully grown on a 5 nm a-Si:H layer. The effect of different ratios of trimethylboron to silane gas flow rates on the material properties were investigated, yielding an optimized material with a conductivity in the lateral direction of 7.9×10-4 S/cm combined with a band gap of E04 = 2.33 eV. Despite its larger thickness as compared to a conventional window a-Si:H p-layer, the novel layer stack of a-Si:H(i)/nc-SiOx:H(p) shows significantly enhanced transmission compared to the stack with a conventional a-Si:H(p) emitter. Altogether, the chosen material exhibits promising characteristics for implementation in SHJ solar cells.

Nanocrystalline Silicon for Optoelectronic Applications

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid Tsybeskov
Keyword(s):  
Binding Energy ◽  
Light Emission ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Free Exciton ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Momentum Conservation ◽  
Exciton Binding Energy ◽  
Electron Hole ◽  
Energy Plus ◽  
Hole Recombination

Light emission in silicon has been intensively investigated since the 1950s when crystalline silicon (c-Si) was recognized as the dominant material in microelectronics. Silicon is an indirect-bandgap semiconductor and momentum conservation requires phonon assistance in radiative electron-hole recombination (Figure 1a, top left). Because phonons carry a momentum and an energy, the typical signature of phonon-assisted recombination is several peaks in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra at low temperature. These PL peaks are called “phonon replicas.” High-purity c-Si PL is caused by free-exciton self-annihilation with the exciton binding energy of ~11 meV. The TO-phonon contribution in conservation processes is most significant, and the main PL peak (~1.1 eV) is shifted from the bandgap value (~1.17 eV) by ~70 meV—that is, the exciton binding energy plus TO-phonon energy (Figure 1a).

High electron mobility in well ordered and lattice-strained hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 595-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Y Chen ◽  
W Z Shen ◽  
H Chen ◽  
R Zhang ◽  
Y L He
Keyword(s):  
Electron Mobility ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
High Electron ◽  
High Electron Mobility
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