Photodegradation in a-Si:H Prepared by Hot-Wire CVD as a Function of Substrate and Filament Temperatures

2000 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daxing Han ◽  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Jing Lin ◽  
Hitoe Habuchi ◽  
Eugene Iwaniczko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Density Of States ◽  
Electron Mobility ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Degradation Kinetics ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Conductivity Activation Energy ◽  
Charged Defects ◽  
Metastable Defect

ABSTRACTWe have studied light-soaking effects, such as photoconductivity (PC) degradation kinetics, the changes of conductivity activation energy, Ea, and the defect density of states (DOS) in a-Si:H films deposited by hot-wire CVD. Films were deposited in a substrate temperature range from 280 to 440 °C for filament temperatures of 1900 and 2100 °C. We find that (a) the photodegradation kinetics does not follow the stretched exponential rule for all of the samples; (b) the Fermi level position moves up after light-soaking for most samples; and (c) the metastable defect DOS deduced from sub-band gap absorption is not consistent with that deduced from the electron mobility-lifetime product. The results are discussed according to the possible mechanism in which charged defects exist in hot-wire a-Si:H films.a

Application of Hot Wire Deposited Intrinsic Poly-Silicon Films in N-I-P cells and TFTS

1997 ◽  
Vol 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Rath ◽  
A.J.M.M. Van Zutphen ◽  
H. Meiling ◽  
R. E. I. Schropp
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Chemical Vapour ◽  
Silicon Films ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
Poly Silicon ◽  
Conducting Path ◽  
P Cells

ABSTRACTPoly-silicon films have been prepared by hot-wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD) from hydrogen diluted silane gas at a low temperature (430 °C). The crystalline volume fraction is 95%. The grains have an average size of 70 nm and coalesce completely. The activation energy (0.54 eV) and the low carrier concentration (6.8 × 1010 cm−3) indicate the fully intrinsic nature of the films. The low (<1017 cm−3) defect density, the absence of 2100 cm−1 mode in infrared spectrum, the low activation energy of Hall mobility (0.012 eV) and the ambipolar diffusion length (LD) of 568 nm all indicate that the grain boundaries in the poly-Si:H films are indeed very thin. Preliminary n-i-p cells incorporating a poly-silicon i-layer yielded 3.15% efficiency and a current density of 18.2 mW/cm2 for only a 1.5 μm i-layer. In the solar cell, the conducting path is along the columnar grains ( (220) preferential orientation from XRD) and the carrier transport bypasses the grain boundary defects. This has been confirmed from the c-Si like optical absorption spectrum (measured by Dual Beam Photoconductivity in the cell configuration) at the low energy region. Inverted staggered thin-film transistors incorporating the poly-silicon layers showed transfer and output characteristics similar to those of state of the art a-Si:H TFTs : the saturation mobility is 0.4 cm2/Vs and the off current is approximately 10−11 A. This leads to the conclusion that the silicon near the SiO2 interface (the channel region) is still amorphous. This is illustrated by XTEM.

Low Hydrogen Content, High Quality Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Grown by Hot-Wire CVD

1999 ◽  
Vol 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent P. Nelson ◽  
Richard S. Crandall ◽  
Eugene Iwaniczko ◽  
A. H. Mahan ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Hydrogen Content ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous

AbstractWe grow hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) by Hot-Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition (HWCVD). Our early work with this technique has shown that we can grow a-Si:H that is different from typical a-Si:H materials. Specifically, we demonstrated the ability to grow a-Si:H of exceptional quality with very low hydrogen (H) contents (0.01 to 4 at. %). The deposition chambers in which this early work was done have two limitations: they hold only small-area substrates and they are incompatible with a load-lock. In our efforts to scale up to larger area chambers—that have load-lock compatibility—we encountered difficulty in growing high-quality films that also have a low H content. Substrate temperature has a direct effect on the H content of HWCVD grown a-Si:H. We found that making dramatic changes to the other deposition process parameters—at fixed substrate temperature and filament-to-substrate spacing—did not have much effect on the H content of the resulting films in our new chambers. However, these changes did have profound effects on film quality. We can grow high-quality a-Si:H in the new larger area chambers at 4 at. % H. For example, the lowest known stabilized defect density of a-Si:H is approximately 2 × 1016 cm-3, which we have grown in our new chamber at 18 Å/s. Making changes to our original chamber—making it more like our new reactor—did not increase the hydrogen content at a fixed substrate temperature and filament-to-substrate spacing. We continued to grow high quality films with low H content in spite of these changes. An interesting, and very useful, result of these experiments is that the orientation of the filament with respect to silane flow direction had no influence on film quality or the H content of the films. The condition of the filament is much more important to growing quality films than the geometry of the chamber due to tungsten-silicide formation on the filament.

Assessment of Intrinsic-Layer Growth Temperature to High-Deposition-Rate a-Si:H n-i-p Solar Cells Deposited by Hot-Wire CVD

1999 ◽  
Vol 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Eugene Iwaniczko ◽  
Yueqin Xu ◽  
Brent P. Nelson ◽  
A. H. Mahan
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Diffusion Length ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Ambipolar Diffusion ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Top Contact ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous

AbstractWe report progress in hydrogenated amorphous silicon n-i-p solar cells with the i-layer grown by the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition technique. Early research showed that we grew device-quality materials with low saturated defect density (2 × 106/cm3), high initial ambipolar diffusion length (~2000 Å) and low hydrogen content (<1%). One of the major barriers to implementing this material into solar cells is the high substrate temperature required (>400°C). We re-assess the effects of low substrate temperature on the property of the films and the performance of the solar cells as an alternative avenue to solving this problem. We find that the material grown at 300°C can have similar values of saturated defect density and ambipolar diffusion length as the one grown greater than 400°C. We also study the effect of i-layer substrate temperature ranging from 280° to 440°C for n-i-p solar cells. We now consistently grow devices with Fill Factor (FF) greater than 0.66, with the best close to 0.70 at lower substrate temperature. A collaboration with United Solar System, in where they grew the p-layer and top contact, produced devices with initial efficiencies as high as 9.8%. We produce n-i-p solar cells with initial efficiencies as high as 8% when we grow all the hydrogenated amorphous silicon and top contact layers. All these i-layers are grown at deposition rates of 16 to 18 Å/sec. We need to further improve our p-layer and transparent conductor layer to equal the collaborative cell efficiency. We also report light-soaking results of these devices.

Relaxation of Electron Beam-Induced Metastable Defects in a-Si:II

1993 ◽  
Vol 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Grimbergen ◽  
R. Mcconville ◽  
D. Redfield ◽  
R.H. Bube
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Time Constant ◽  
Electron Irradiation ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Initial Density ◽  
Induced Defects ◽  
Metastable Defect

Relaxation of the metastable defect density in undoped amorphous silicon is observed after keV electron irradiation. The time constant for relaxation has an activation energy close to 1 eV, similar to that for light-induced defects. Relaxation appears to follow two or more stages. A large initial density relaxes rapidly, followed by slower relaxation more characteristic of light-induced defects. Separation of these components allows for a better comparison of e-beam and light-induced saturation defect density.

Characterization of Microcrystalline Transition from Amorphous Silicon as a Function of Hydrogen Dilution and Substrate Temperature of Hot-wire CVD

2002 ◽  
Vol 715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keda Wang ◽  
Haoyue Zhang ◽  
Jian Zhang ◽  
Jessica M. Owens ◽  
Jennifer Weinberg-Wolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Sudden Change ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Ir Absorption ◽  
Sudden Increase ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Hydrogen Dilution ◽  
Integral Absorption ◽  
Two Peaks

Abstracta-Si:H films were prepared by hot wire chemical vapor deposition. One group was deposited at a substrate temperature of Ts=250°C with varied hydrogen-dilution ratio, 0<R<10; the other group was deposited with fixed R=3 but a varied Ts from 150 to 550°C. IR, Raman and PL spectra were studied. The Raman results indicate that there is a threshold value for the microstructure transition from a- to μc-Si. The threshold is found to be R ≈ 2 at Ts = 250°C and Ts ≈ 200°C at R=3. The IR absorption of Si-H at 640 cm-1 was used to calculate the hydrogen content, CH. CH decreased monotonically when either R or Ts increased. The Si-H stretching mode contains two peaks at 2000 and 2090 cm-1. The ratio of the integral absorption peaks I2090/(I2090+I2090) showed a sudden increase at the threshold of microcrystallinity. At the same threshold, the PL features also indicate a sudden change from a- to μc-Si., i.e. the low energy PL band becomes dominant and the PL total intensity decreases. We attribute the above IR and PL changes to the contribution of microcrystallinity, especially the c-Si gain-boundaries.

scholarly journals Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport in 4H-SiC using the DFT-calculated density of states

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janusz Wozny ◽  
Andrii Kovalchuk ◽  
Zbigniew Lisik ◽  
Jacek Podgorski ◽  
Piotr Bugalski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Silicon Carbide ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Electron Transport ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulations ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Density Of States ◽  
Electron Mobility ◽  
Crucial Issue ◽  
Calculated Density ◽  
Correct Calculation

AbstractWe carry out Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport in 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) based on the numerically calculated density of states (DOS) to obtain the electron mobility at low electric fields. From the results, it can be concluded that a correct calculation of the DOS requires a very dense wavevector k-mesh when low electron kinetic energies are considered. The crucial issue is the numerical efficiency of the DOS calculation. We investigate the scaling efficiency when different numbers of cores are used.

Dependence of the a-Si:H Defect Density of States on the Magnetic Field Profile of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Microwave Plasma

1992 ◽  
Vol 258 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.S. Pool ◽  
J.M. Essick ◽  
Y.H. Shing ◽  
R.T. Mather
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Density Of States ◽  
Cyclotron Resonance ◽  
Electron Cyclotron Resonance ◽  
Microwave Plasma ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Electron Cyclotron ◽  
Field Profile ◽  
Magnetic Field Profile ◽  
The Magnetic Field

ABSTRACTThe magnetic field profile of an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) microwave plasma was systematically altered to determine subsequent effects on a-Si:H film quality. Films of a-Si:H were deposited at pressures of 0.7 mTorr and 5 mTorr with a H2/SiH4 ratio of approximately three. The mobility gap density of states ND, deposition rate and light to dark conductivity were determined for the a-Si:H films. This data was correlated to the magnetic field profile of the plasma, which was characterized by Langmuir probe measurements of the ion current density. By variation of the magnetic field profile ND could be altered by more than an order of magnitude, from 1×1016 to 1×1017 at 0.7 mTorr and 1×1016 to 5×1017 at 5 mTorr. Two deposition regimes were found to occur for the conditions of this study. Highly divergent magnetic fields resulted in poor quality a-Si:H, while for magnetic field profiles defining a more highly confined plasma, the a-Si:H was of device quality and relatively independent of the magnetic field configuration.

Observation of Rheed Intensity Oscillations During PbSe/CaF2/Si(111) MBE

1996 ◽  
Vol 441 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. K. Liu ◽  
X. M. Fang ◽  
P. J. McCann ◽  
M. B. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Melting Point ◽  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
High Melting ◽  
Arrhenius Behavior ◽  
High Activation ◽  
High Melting Point ◽  
Mbe Growth ◽  
Sublimation Energy ◽  
Initial Nucleation

AbstractRHEED intensity oscillations observed during MBE growth of CaF2 on Si(111) and PbSe on CaF2/Si(111) are presented. The effects of substrate temperature and initial nucleation procedure are investigated. Strong temporal oscillations of the specular beam intensity are found to be most readily observed at temperatures below 200°C for both CaF2 and PbSe. Growth rates measured as a function of cell temperatures exhibit Arrhenius behavior with activation energies of 5.0 eV and 1.93 eV for CaF2 and PbSe, respectively. The relatively high activation energy obtained for CaF2 is consistent with the high melting point and sublimation energy of ionic fluorides.

Light-Induced Metastable Defects or Light-Induced Metastable H Atoms in a-Si:H Films?

1997 ◽  
Vol 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Godet
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Characteristic Time ◽  
Defect Density ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Exponential Time ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous ◽  
Two Parameter ◽  
Metastable Defect ◽  
Trapping Sites

ABSTRACTIn hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films, the increase of the metastable defect density under high-intensity illumination is usually described by an empirical two-parameter stretched-exponential time dependence (characteristic time τSE and dispersion parameter β). In this study, a clearly different (one-parameter) analytic function is obtained from a microscopic model based on the formation of metastable H (MSH) atoms in a-Si:H films. Assuming that MSH atoms are the only mobile species, only three chemical reactions are significant : MSH are produced from doubly hydrogenated (SiH HSi) configurations and trapped either at broken bonds or Si-H bonds, corresponding respectively to light-induced annealing (LIA) and light-induced creation (LIC) of defects. Competition between trapping sites results in a saturation of N(t) at a steady-state value Nss. A one-parameter fit of this analytical function to experimental data is generally good, indicating that the use of a statistical distribution of trap energies is not necessary.

Crystallization of Zn-rich and P-rich amorphous Zn3P2 thin films

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 373-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Arsenault ◽  
D. E. Brodie
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Activation Energy ◽  
Electrical Properties ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Crystallization Process ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Electrical Measurements ◽  
Conductivity Activation Energy ◽  
X Ray

Zn-rich and P-rich amorphous Zn3P2 thin films were prepared by co-evaporation of the excess element during the normal Zn3P2 deposition. X-ray diffraction techniques were used to investigate the structural properties and the crystallization process. Agglomeration of the excess element within the as-made amorphous Zn3P2 thin film accounted for the structural properties observed after annealing the sample. Electrical measurements showed that excess Zn reduces the conductivity activation energy and increases the conductivity, while excess P up to 15 at.% does not alter the electrical properties significantly.

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