SiC based Si/SiC heterojunction and its rectifying characteristics

The Si on SiC heterojunction is still poorly understood, although it has a number of potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices, for example, light-activated SiC power switches where Si may play the role of an light absorbing layer. This paper reports on Si films heteroepitaxially grown on the Si face of （0001） n-type 6H-SiC substrates and the use of B2H6 as a dopant for p-Si grown at temperatures in a range of 700-950℃. X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） tests have demonstrated that the samples prepared at the temperatures ranged from 850℃ to 900℃ are characterized as monocrystalline silicon. The rocking XRD curves show a well symmetry with FWHM of 0.4339° Omega. Twin crystals and stacking faults observed in the epitaxial layers might be responsible for widening of the rocking curves. Dependence of the crystal structure and surface topography on growth temperature is discussed based on the experimental results. The energy band structure and rectifying characteristics of the Si/SiC heterojunctions are also preliminarily tested.

Indium–tin oxide films obtained by DC magnetron sputtering for improved Si heterojunction solar cell applications

The indium-tin oxide （ITO） film as the antireflection layer and front electrodes is of key importance to obtaining high efficiency Si heterojunction （HJ） solar cells. To obtain high transmittance and low resistivity ITO films by direct-current （DC） magnetron sputtering, we studied the impacts of the ITO film deposition conditions, such as the oxygen flow rate, pressure, and sputter power, on the electrical and optical properties of the ITO films. ITO films of resistivity of 4 x 10-4 ~.m and average transmittance of 89% in the wavelength range of 380-780 nm were obtained under the optimized conditions： oxygen flow rate of 0.1 sccm, pressure of 0.8 Pa, and sputtering power of 110 W. These ITO films were used to fabricate the single-side HJ solar cell without an intrinsic a-Si：H layer. However, the best HJ solar cell was fabricated with a lower sputtering power of 95 W, which had an efficiency of 11.47%, an open circuit voltage （Voc） of 0.626 V, a filling factor （FF） of 0.50, and a short circuit current density （Jsc） of 36.4 mA/cm2. The decrease in the performance of the solar cell fabricated with high sputtering power of 110 W is attributed to the ion bombardment to the emitter. The Voc was improved to 0.673 V when a 5 nm thick intrinsic a-Si：H layer was inserted between the （p） a-Si：H and （n） c-Si layer. The higher Voc of 0.673 V for the single-side HJ solar cell implies the excellent c-Si surface passivation by a-Si：H.

Forward and reverse electron transport properties across a CdS/Si multi-interface nanoheterojunction

The electron transport behavior across the interface plays an important role in determining the performance of op- toelectronic devices based on heterojunctions. Here through growing CdS thin film on silicon nanoporous pillar array, an untraditional, nonplanar, and multi-interface CdS/Si nanoheterojunction is prepared. The current density versus voltage curve is measured and an obvious rectification effect is observed. Based on the fitting results and model analyses on the forward and reverse conduction characteristics, the electron transport mechanism under low forward bias, high forward bias, and reverse bias are attributed to the Ohmic regime, space-charge-limited current regime, and modified Poole-Frenkel regime respectively. The forward and reverse electrical behaviors are found to be highly related to the distribution of inter- facial trap states and the existence of localized electric field respectively. These results might be helpful for optimizing the preparing procedures to realize high-performance silicon-based CdS optoelectronic devices.

Rectification and electroluminescence of nanostructured GaN/Si heterojunction based on silicon nanoporous pillar array

A GaN/Si nanoheterojunction is prepared through growing Ga N nanocrystallites（nc-GaN） on a silicon nanoporous pillar array（Si-NPA） by a chemical vapor deposition（CVD） technique at a relatively low temperature. The average size of nc-Ga N is determined to be ~10 nm. The spectral measurements disclose that the photoluminescence（PL） from GaN/SiNPA is composed of an ultraviolet（UV） band and a broad band spanned from UV to red region, with the feature that the latter band is similar to that of electroluminescence（EL）. The electron transition from the energy levels of conduction band and, or, shallow donors to that of deep acceptors of Ga N is indicated to be responsible for both the broad-band PL and the EL luminescence. A study of the I-V characteristic shows that at a low forward bias, the current across the heterojunction is contact-limited while at a high forward bias it is bulk-limited, which follows the thermionic emission model and space-charge-limited current（SCLC） model, respectively. The bandgap offset analysis indicates that the carrier transport is dominated by electron injection from n-GaN into the p-Si-NPA, and the EL starts to appear only when holes begin to be injected from Si-NPA into GaN with biases higher than a threshold voltage.

Ge/Si heterojunction L-shape tunnel field-effect transistors with hetero-gate-dielectric

A Ge/Si heterojunction L-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor combined with hetero-gate-dielectric （GHL-TFET） is proposed and investigated by TCAD simulation. Current-voltage characteristics, energy-band diagrams, and the distri- bution of the band-to-band tunneling （BTBT） generation rate of GHL-TFET are analyzed. In addition, the effect of the vertical channel width on the ON-current is studied and the thickness of the gate dielectric is optimized for better suppression of ambipolar current. Moreover, analog/RF figure-of-merits of GHL-TFET are also investigated in terms of the cut-off frequency and gain bandwidth production. Simulation results indicate that the ON-current of GHL-TFET is increased by about three orders of magnitude compared with that of the conventional L-shaped TFET. Besides, the introduction of the hetero-gate-dielectric not only suppresses the ambipolar current effectively but also improves the analog/RF performance drastically. It is demonstrated that the maximum cut-off frequency of GHL-TFET is about 160 GHz, which is 20 times higher than that of the conventional L-shaped TFET.

Temperature-dependent rectifying and photovoltaic characteristics of an oxygen-deficient Bi_2Sr_2Co_2O_y/Si heterojunction

A Bi2Sr2Co2Oy/Si heterojunction is obtained by growing a layer of p-type oxygen-deficient Bi2Sr2Co2Oy film on a commercial n-type silicon wafer by pulsed laser deposition. Its rectifying and photovoltaic properties are studied in a wide temperature range from 20 K to 300 K. The transport mechanism under the forward bias can be attributed to a trap- filled space-charge-limited current conduction mechanism. Under the irradiation of a 532-nm continuous wave laser, a clear photovoltaic effect is observed and the magnitude ofphotovoltage increases as the temperature decreases, The results demonstrate the potential application of a Bi2SrzCo2Oy-based heterojunction in the photoelectronic devices.

Novel Si/SiC heterojunction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor with p-type buried layer breaking silicon limit

A novel silicon carbide(SiC) on silicon(Si) heterojunction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor fieldeffect transistor with p-type buried layer(PBL Si/SiC LDMOS) is proposed in this paper for the first time.The heterojunction has breakdown point transfer(BPT) characteristics,and the BPT terminal technology is used to increase the breakdown voltage(BV) of Si/SiC LDMOS with the deep drain region.In order to further optimize the surface lateral electric field distribution of Si/SiC LDMOS with the deep drain region,the p-type buried layer is introduced in PBL Si/SiC LDMOS.The vertical electric field is optimized by Si/SiC heterojunction and the surface lateral electric field is optimized by the p-type buried layer,which greatly improves the BV of device and alleviates the relationship between BV and specific on-resistance(R_(on,sp)).Through TCAD simulation,when the drift region length is 20 μm,the BV is significantly improved from 249 V for the conventional Si LDMOS to 440 V for PBL Si/SiC LDMOS,increased by 77%;And the BV is improved from 384 V for Si/SiC LDMOS with the deep drain region to 440 V for the proposed structure,increased by 15%.The figure-of-merit(FOM) of the Si/SiC LDMOS with the deep drain region and PBL Si/SiC LDMOS are 4.26 MW/cm^(2) and 6.37 MW/cm^(2),respectively.For the PBL Si/SiC LDMOS with the drift length of 20 μm,the maximum FOM is 6.86 MW/cm^(2).The PBL Si/SiC LDMOS breaks conventional silicon limit.

Interfacial photoconductivity effect of type-Ⅰ and type-Ⅱ Sb2Se3/Si heterojunctions for THz wave modulation

An in-depth understanding of the photoconductivity and photocarrier density at the interface is of great significance for improving the performance of optoelectronic devices. However, extraction of the photoconductivity and photocarrier density at the heterojunction interface remains elusive. Herein, we have obtained the photoconductivity and photocarrier density of 173 nm Sb2Se3/Si(type-Ⅰ heterojunction) and 90 nm Sb2Se3/Si(type-Ⅱ heterojunction) utilizing terahertz(THz) time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) and a theoretical Drude model. Since type-Ⅰ heterojunctions accelerate carrier recombination and type-Ⅱ heterojunctions accelerate carrier separation, the photoconductivity and photocarrier density of the type-Ⅱ heterojunction(21.8×10^(4)S·m^(-1),1.5 × 10^(15)cm^(-3)) are higher than those of the type-Ⅰ heterojunction(11.8×10^(4)S·m^(-1),0.8×10^(15)cm^(-3)). These results demonstrate that a type-Ⅱ heterojunction is superior to a type-Ⅰ heterojunction for THz wave modulation. This work highlights THz-TDS as an effective tool for studying photoconductivity and photocarrier density at the heterojunction interface. In turn, the intriguing interfacial photoconductivity effect provides a way to improve the THz wave modulation performance.

CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions based on amorphous silicon films:Fabrication,structures,and electrical properties

Shortening the distance between the depletion region and the electrodes to reduce the trapped probability of carriers is a useful approach for improving the performance of heterojunction.The CdS/Si nanofilm heterojunctions are fabricated by using the radio frequency magnetron sputtering method to deposit the amorphous silicon nanofilms and Cd S nanofilms on the ITO glass in turn.The relation of current density to applied voltage(I-V)shows the obvious rectification effect.From the analysis of the double logarithm I-V curve it follows that below~2.73 V the electron behaviors obey the Ohmic mechanism and above~2.73 V the electron behaviors conform to the space charge limited current(SCLC)mechanism.In the SCLC region part of the traps between the Fermi level and conduction band are occupied,and with the increase of voltage most of the traps are occupied.It is believed that Cd S/Si nanofilm heterojunction is a potential candidate in the field of nano electronic and optoelectronic devices by optimizing its fabricating procedure.

The Effects of Fabrication Prameters and Electroforming Phenomenon on CdTe/Si (p) Heterojunction Photovoltaic Solar Cell

The In-doped CdTe/Si (p) heterostruture was fabricated and its electrical and photoelectrical properties were studied and interpreted. During the fabrication processes of CdTe/Si heterojunction, some practical troubles were encountered. However, the important one was the formation of the SiO2 thin oxide layer on the soft surface of the Si during the formation of the back contact. The silicon wafer was subjected to different chemical treatments in order to remove the thin oxide layer from the silicon wafer surfaces. It was found that the heterojunction with Si (p+) substrate gave relatively high open circuit voltage comparing with that of Si (p) substrate. Also an electroforming phenomenon had been observed in this structure for the first time which may be considered as a memory effect. It was observed that there are two states of conduction, non-conducting state and conducting state. The normal case is the non-conducting state. As the forward applied voltage increased beyond threshold value, it switches into the conducting state and remains in this state even after the voltage drops to zero.

a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells on SiSiC ceramic substrates

Silicon thin-film solar cells are considered to be one of the most promising cells in the future for their potential advantages, such as low cost, high efficiency, great stability, simple processing, and none-pollution. In this paper, latest progress on poly-crystalline silicon solar cells on ceramic substrates achieved by our group was reported. Rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD) was used to deposited poly-crystalline silicon thin films, and the grains of as-grown film were enlarged by Zone-melting Recrystallization (ZMR). As a great change in cell′s structure, traditional diffused pn homojunction was replaced by a-Si/c-Si heterojunction, which lead is to distinct improvement in cell′s efficiency. A conversion efficiency of 3.42% has been achieved on 1 cm2 a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cell (Isc=16.93 mA, Voc=310.9 mV, FF=0.6493, AM=1.5 G, 24 ℃), while the cell with diffused homojunction only got an efficiency of 0.6%. It indicates that a-Si emitter formed at low temperature might be more suitable for thin film cell on ceramics.

Simulation of a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells: From planar junction to local junction

In order to obtain higher conversion efficiency and to reduce production cost for hydrogenated amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon(a-Si:H/c-Si) based heterojunction solar cells, an a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction with localized p–n structure(HACL) is designed. A numerical simulation is performed with the ATLAS program. The effect of the a-Si:H layer on the performance of the HIT(heterojunction with intrinsic thin film) solar cell is investigated. The performance improvement mechanism for the HACL cell is explored. The potential performance of the HACL solar cell is compared with those of the HIT and HACD(heterojunction of amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon with diffused junction) solar cells.The simulated results indicate that the a-Si:H layer can bring about much absorption loss. The conversion efficiency and the short-circuit current density of the HACL cell can reach 28.18% and 43.06 m A/cm^2, respectively, and are higher than those of the HIT and HACD solar cells. The great improvement are attributed to(1) decrease of optical absorption loss of a-Si:H and(2) decrease of photocarrier recombination for the HACL cell. The double-side local junction is very suitable for the bifacial solar cells. For an HACL cell with n-type or p-type c-Si base, all n-type or p-type c-Si passivating layers are feasible for convenience of the double-side diffusion process. Moreover, the HACL structure can reduce the consumption of rare materials since the transparent conductive oxide(TCO) can be free in this structure. It is concluded that the HACL solar cell is a promising structure for high efficiency and low cost.

GeSi/Si PIN红外探测器的漏电现象分析

根据半导体理论并结合实验结果，分析了以GeSi／Si超晶格为吸收材料的PIN红外探测器的漏电现象。结果表明：当锗含量x=0．6时，探测器的暗电流密度可达到10-5A／cm2，这是由超晶格的禁带宽度决定的。实际器件的暗电流较大，主要是表面因素和加工工艺的影响。

GeSi/Si共振隧穿二极管

GeSi/Si共振隧穿二极管主要包括空穴型GeSi/SiRTD、应力型GeSi/SiRTD和GeSi/Si带间共振隧穿二极管三种结构。着重讨论了后两种GeSi/Si基RTD结构;指出GeSi/Si异质结的能带偏差主要发生在二者价带之间(即ΔEv>ΔEc),形成的电子势阱很浅,因此适用于空穴型RTD的研制;n型带内RTD只有通过应力Si或应力GeSi来实现,这种应力型RTD为带内RTD的主要结构;而带间GeSi/SiRITD则将成为更有应用前景的、性能较好的GeSi/SiRTD器件结构。

GeSi/Si多量子阱光波导模特性分析和吸收层结构设计

根据普适于任意阱数的方波折射率分布的多量子阱光波导的模场分布函数和模特征方程，分析了在以ＧｅＳｉ／Ｓｉ多量子阱为波导芯、Ｓｉ为覆盖层的光波导结构中．Ｇｅ含量、周期数、占空度、厚度、折射率分布等参量对光波导传播常数的影响．并结合吸收特点对ＭＱＷ吸收层结构进行优化设计．

p－GeSi／n＋－Si异质结电光调制器

文章介绍了硅基光电子器件——ｐ－ＧｅＳｉ／ｎ＋－Ｓｉ异质结电光调制器的初步试验研究之后，给出了所研制调制器的调制深度为９０％时的调制电流约１８０ｍＡ。为了进一步减小调制电流和提高调制频率。

GeSi/Si多量子阱光波导模特性分析和结构设计

根据普适于任意阱数方波折射率分布的多量子阱光波导模场分布函数和模特征方程，分析了以ＧｅＳｉ／Ｓｉ多量子阱为波导芯、Ｓｉ为覆盖层的光波导结构中锗含量、周期数、占空度、厚度、折射率分布等参量对光波导传播系数的影响．结合吸收特点，对波导探测器ＭＱＷ吸收层结构进行优化设计．

GeSi／Si应变超晶格探测器的制作

介绍ＧｅＳｉ／Ｓｉ应变新材料探测器的制作方法，它不仅与Ｓｉ微电子工艺相兼容，而且还可调节Ｇｅ含量使其禁带宽度满足现代光纤通信器件的要求。

GeSi/Si异质结红外摄像器

论述了单片 5 12× 5 12像素的 Ge Si/Si异质结红外摄像器。它的工作原理和 Pt Si/Si肖特基势垒红外摄像器一样。制造 Ge Si/Si异质结采用分子束外延法 ,在 Si片上生长 Ge Si膜。该膜有理想的应力。文章评价了 Ge成份、掺杂浓度、Ge Si膜厚和光谱响应的关系。研究表明器件的最佳工作波长为 8～ 12μm。

1．3—1．55μm GeSi异质结红外探测器的研制

采用快速加热、超低压化学气相淀积方法，在（ｎ）－Ｇｅ衬底上外延生长（ｐ）－ＧｅＳｉ－Ｓｉ薄层，首次研制成功了１．３—１．５５μｍ波段的ＧｅＳｉ异质结红外探测器。其主要参数性能优于该波段的同类型Ｇｅ探测器。