Versatile High Rate Plasma Deposition and Processing with very high Frequency Excitation

1997 ◽  
Vol 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Heintze
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Plasma Deposition ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Surface Reactivity ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Plasma Diagnostic ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Very High

ABSTRACTThe interest in plasma deposition using very high frequency (VHF) excitation arose after the preparation of a-Si:H at high growth rates was demonstrated. Subsequently the improved process flexibility and the control of material properties offered by the variation of the plasma excitation frequency was recognized. The preparation of amorphous and microcrystalline thin films in a VHF-plasma is described. The increased growth rates have been attributed to an enhancement of film precursor formation at VHF, to the decreased sheath thickness as well as to an enhancement of the surface reactivity by positive ions. Plasma diagnostic investigations show that the parameters mainly affected by the excitation frequency are the ion flux to the electrodes as well as the sheaths potentials and widths, rather than the plasma density.

Large Grain Size and High Deposition Rate for Microcrystalline Silicon Prepared by VHF-GD

1994 ◽  
Vol 358 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Hapke ◽  
F. Finger ◽  
M. Luysberg ◽  
R. Carius ◽  
H. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Deposition Rate ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Chemical Vapour ◽  
High Deposition Rate ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Deposition Parameters ◽  
Plasma Excitation ◽  
Very High

ABSTRACTThe growth mechanism and material properties of -type µc-Si:H prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition in the very high frequency range is investigated. By increasing the plasma excitation frequency the grain size, deposition rate and Hall mobility can be simultaneously increased without having to adjust other deposition parameters in particular the temperature. This effect is explained by an enhanced selective etching of amorphous tissue and grain boundary regions together with a sufficient supply of growth species at high frequency plasmas.

Large Area Deposition of Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon by Very High Frequency Plasma

1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Sansonnens ◽  
A. A. Howling ◽  
Ch. Hollenstein
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Plasma Deposition ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Plasma Properties ◽  
High Frequency Plasma ◽  
Frequency Plasma ◽  
Area Deposition ◽  
Main Factor

ABSTRACTTwo aspects of VHF plasma deposition in a large area reactor are investigated: 1) Experiments and model show that voltage inhomogeneities become serious at high frequency but can be reduced by suitable RF connection configuration. These voltage inhomogeneities are the main factor limiting the excitation frequency in order to satisfy film thickness uniformity requirements; 2) the effect of the frequency on the plasma properties has been studied between 13.56 MiHz and 70 MHz. The results show that an increase of the electron density with the frequency leads to a more efficient dissociation of silane. This increase of the gas phase reactivity of the plasma is largely responsible for the higher deposition rates observed athigh frequency.The choice of the excitation frequency for a given application is a compromise between the gain of higher deposition rate and the frequency limit imposed by homogeneity requirements.

High Rate Deposition of Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells using Modified Very High Frequency Glow Discharge

2007 ◽  
Vol 989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Active Area ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Single Junction ◽  
Very High

AbstractWe report our recent progress on high rate deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) based n-i-p solar cells. The intrinsic a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H layers were deposited using modified very high frequency (MVHF) glow discharge. We found that both the initial cell performance and stability of the MVHF a-Si:H single-junction cells are independent of the deposition rate up to 15 Å/s. The average initial and stable active-area cell efficiencies of 10.0% and 8.5%, respectively, were obtained for the cells on textured Ag/ZnO coated stainless steel substrates. a-SiGe:H single-junction cells were also optimized at a rate of ~10 Å/s. The cell performance is similar to those made using conventional radio frequency technique at 3 Å/s. By combining the optimized component cells made at 10 Å/s, an a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H double-junction solar cell with an initial active-area efficiency of 11.7% was achieved.

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