We investigate the effects of ambient atmosphere on the electrical performance of p-type tin monoxide (SnO) thinfilm transistors (TFTs), and present the effective method for the passivation of SnO TFTs using a SU-8 organic layer. The experimental data shows that the SnO TFTs without a passivation layer suffer from the electrical performance degradation under humid environments, which implies that the formation of the passivation layer is necessary in p-type SnO TFTs for the stable operation of the devices. The SU-8 organic layer was successfully incorporated as a passivation layer of SnO TFTs. The SnO TFTs with a SU-8 passivation layer exhibit very similar transfer characteristics with those without a passivation layer, and show much improved long-term durability and bias stress stability compared with the SnO TFTs without a passivation layer under air environments.Index Terms-P-type SnO TFTs, SU-8 passivation layer, humidity, long-term durability, bias stress stability.

We report and explain the photoluminescence spectra emitted from silicon solar cells with heavily‐doped layers at the surface. A micro‐photoluminescence spectroscopy system is employed to investigate the total spectrum emitted from both the heavily‐doped layer and the silicon substrate with micron‐scale spatial resolution. The two regions of the device give rise to separate photoluminescence peaks, due to band‐gap narrowing effects in the highly‐doped layer. Two key parameters, the absorption depth of the excitation wavelength, and the sample temperature, are shown to be critical to reveal the separate signatures from the two regions. Finally, this technique is applied to locally diffused and laser‐doped regions on silicon solar cell pre‐cursors, demonstrating the potential value of this micron‐scale technique in studying and optimizing locally doped regions. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Articles you may be interested inImaging of the relative saturation current density and sheet resistance of laser doped regions via photoluminescence Stress and doping uniformity of laser crystallized amorphous silicon in thin film silicon solar cellsWe report the detection of laser-induced damage in laser-doped layers at the surface of crystalline silicon wafers, via micron-scale photoluminescence spectroscopy. The properties of the subband-gap emission from the induced defects are found to match the emission characteristics of dislocations. Courtesy of the high spatial resolution of the micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy technique, micron-scale variations in the extent of damage at the edge of the laser-doped region can be detected, providing a powerful tool to study and optimize laser-doping processes for silicon photovoltaics. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.

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