Growth characteristics of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films fabricated by very high frequency PECVD at 250 ℃

Amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films were prepared by a very high frequency plasma enhanced chem-ical vapor deposition （PECVD） technique using hydrogen-diluted Sill4 at 250 ℃. The dependence of the crystallinity of the film on the hydrogen dilution ratio and the film thickness was investigated. Raman spectra show that the thickness of the initial amorphous incubation layer on silicon oxide gradually decreases with increasing hydrogen dilution ratio. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that the initial amorphous incubation layer can be completely eliminated at a hydrogen dilution ratio of 98%, which is lower than that needed for the growth of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon using an excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz. More studies on the microstructure evolution of the initial amorphous incubation layer with hydrogen dilution ratios were performed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. It is suggested that the high hydrogen dilution, as well as the higher plasma excitation frequency, plays an important role in the formation of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films.

Charge storage characteristics of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon film prepared by rapid thermal annealing

The early stages of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon （nc-Si：H） films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition were characterized by atomic force microscopy. To increase the density of nanocrystals in the nc-Si：H films, the films were annealed by rapid thermal annealing （RTA） at different temperatures and then analysed by Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the recrystallization process of the film was optimal at around 1000℃. The effects of different RTA conditions on charge storage were characterized by capacitance-voltage measurement. Experimental results show that nc-Si：H films obtained by RTA have good charge storage characteristics for nonvolatile memory.

Characterization of doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition

The B- and P-doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon films （nc-Si：H） are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD）. The microstructures of doped nc-Si＇H films are carefully and systematically characterized by using high resolution electron microscopy （HREM）, Raman scattering, x-ray diffraction （XRD）, Auger electron spectroscopy （AES）, and resonant nucleus reaction （RNR）. The results show that as the doping concentration of PH3 increases, the average grain size （d） tends to decrease and the crystalline volume percentage （Xc） increases simultaneously. For the B-doped samples, as the doping concentration of B2H6 increases, no obvious change in the value of d is observed, but the value of Xc is found to decrease. This is especially apparent in the case of heavy B2H6 doped samples, where the films change from nanocrystalline to amorphous.

Surface Passivation of Nanocrystalline Silicon Powder Derived from Cryomilling

The surface passivation mechanism of nanocrystalline silicon powder was studied. The liquid nitrogen/argon was used as the medium to prepare the nanocrystalline silicon powder, using a cryomilling technology. The X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, plasma emission spectroscopy and infrared spectrum were used to analyze the prepared samples, and density functional theory was used to investigate the cryomilling process. For nanocrystalline silicon powder cryomilled with liquid N2, the amorphous outer layer with N element is formed On the surface, and chemisorption caused by the formation of Si-N-Si bond leads to the surface passivation; although physisorpfion also he confirmed, the Si-N bond is steady after exploded in air for 30 days and no new bond is observed. For nanocrystalline silicon powder cryomilled with liquid At, no new chemical bond is Observed, Ar element absorbs on the surface of the prepared powder only through physisorption, and after exploded in air for 30 days, a Si-O bond can be observed obviously.

Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films Fabricated at 80℃ by Using Electron Cyclotron Resonance Chemical Vapor Deposition

Deposition of nanocrystalline silicon （nc-Si） on glass at very low temperatures by electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD） was investigated. It was shown that nc-Si could be deposited from hydrogen diluted silane gas at a substrate temperature of 80℃ with a crystalline fraction up to 80% and a lateral grain size of around 50 nm. This was achieved by growing the nc-Si in a low pressure regime which ensured that mono-silyl species were the dominant deposition precursor. Furthermore, a high flux of energetic hydrogen ions was required to induce crystallisation of the silicon material through a chemical annealing process.

Influence of an External Magnetic Field on the Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon Films Grown by MF Magnetron Sputtering

The effects of an external magnetic field originating from two solenoid coils on the magnetic field configuration, plasma state of a dual unbalanced magnetron sputter system and the structure of nanocrystalline Si films were examined. Numerical simulations of the magnetic field configuration showed that increasing the coil current significantly changed the magnetic field distribution between the substrate and targets. The saturated ion current density Ji in the substrate position measured by using a circular flat probe increased from 0.18 to 0.55 mA/cm2 with the coil current ranging from 0 to 6 A. X-ray diffraction and Raman results revealed that increasing the ion density near the substrate would benefit crystallization of films and the preferential growth along [lI1] orientation. From analysis of the surface morphology and the microstructure of Si films grown under different plasma conditions, it is found that with increasing the Ji, the surface of the film was smoothed and the alteration in the surface roughness was mainly correlated to the localized surface diffusion of the deposited species and the crystallization behavior of the films.

Influence of band gap of p-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon layer on the short-circuit current density in thin-film silicon solar cells

The impact of the optical band gap（Eg） of a p-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon layer on the short-circuit current density（Jsc） of a thin-film silicon solar cell is assessed. We have found that the Jsc reaches maximum when the Eg reaches optimum. The reason for the Jsc on Eg needs to be clarified. Our results exhibit that maximum Jsc is the balance between dark current and photocurrent. We show here that this dark current results from the density of defects in the p-layer and the barrier at the interface between p-and i-layers. An optimum cell can be designed by optimizing the p-layer via reducing the density of defects in the p-layer and the barrier at the p/i interface. Finally, a 6.6% increase in Jsc was obtained at optimum Eg for n-i-p solar cells.

Size Control of Nanoscale Silicon Particles Formed in Thermally Annealed A-Si∶H Films and Its Photoluminescence

A method to control the size of nanoscale silicon grown in thermally annealed hydrogenated amorphous silicon （a-Si：H） films is reported. Using the characterizing techniques of micro-Raman scattering, X-ray diffraction and computer simulation, it is found that the sizes of the formed silicon particles change with the temperature rising rate in thermally annealing the a-Si ： H films. When the a-Si：H films have been annealed with high rising rate（～100℃/s）, the sizes of nanoscale silicon particles are in the range of 1.6～15nm. On the other hand, if the a-Si：H films have been annealed with low temperature rising rate（～1℃/s）, the sizes of nanoscale silicon particles are in the range of 23～46nm. Based on the theory of crystal nucleation and growth, the effect of temperature rising rate on the sizes of the formed silicon particles is discussed. Under high power laser irradiation, in situ nanocrystallization and subsequent nc-Si clusters are small enough for visible light emission, authors have not detected any visible photoluminescence（PL） from these nc-Si clusters before surface passivation. After electrochemical oxidization in hydrofluoric acid, however, intense red PL has been detected. Cyclic hydrofluoric oxidization and air exposure can cause subsequent blue shift in the red emission. The importance of surface passivation and quantum confinement in the visible emissions has been discussed.

Nc-Si Thin Film Deposited at Low Temperature and Nc-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell

This paper reported some results about intrinsic nanocrystalline silicon thin films deposited by high frequency (HF) sputtering on p-type c-Si substrates at low temperature. Samples were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared absorption, and ellipsometry. XRD measurements show that this film has a new microstructure, which is different from the films deposited by other methods. The ellipsometry result gives that the optical band gap of the film is about 2.63 eV. In addition, the n-type nc-Si∶H/p-type c-Si heterojunction solar cell, which has open circuit voltage (U oc ) of 558 mV and short circuit current intensity (I sc ) of 29 mA/cm2, was obtained based on the nanocrystalline silicon thin film. Irradiated under AM1.5, 100 mW/cm2 light intensity, the U oc , I sc , and FF can keep stable for 10 h.

Instability of nc-Si: H Films Fabricated by PECVD

An analysis is given to explain the instability of the high conductivity property of nc-Si:H fabricated. Detailed discussion is carried out concentrating on the conductivity and growth mechanism. It is assumed that the instability of the conductivity of the nc-Si:H stems from two part: the phase transition from nanocrystallites into a-Si:H, and the oxygen incorporation of the thin layer of the film, which contributes more to the effect when the film suffers the exposure to air. The theory is in agreement with the experiment and measurement.

Analysis on Conductivity of nc-Si: H Films

A conduction channel model is proposed to explain the high conductivity property of nc-Si: H. Detailed energy band diagram is developed based on the analysis and calculation, and the conductivity of the nc-Si: H was then analysed on the basis of energy band theory. It is assumed that the conductivity of the nc-Si: H stems from two parts: the conductance of the interface, where the transport mechanism is identified as a thermal-assisted tunnelling process, and the conductance along the channel around the grain, which mainly determined the high conductivity of the nc -Si: H. The conductivity of nc - Si: H is calculated and compared with the experiment data. The theory is in agreement with the experiment.