Electronic and topographic properties of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon thin films

Kleider, Jean‐Paul; Longeaud, Christophe; Brüggemann, R.; Houzé, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/s0040-6090(00)01614-x

Cited by 50 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…the Staebler-Wronski effect (see Refs. [27,28]). A word of caution is, however, called for: the term ''mc-Si:H'' covers a large variety of different materials, having notable differences in microstructure, crystallite orientation and form and crystalline/amorphous volume fraction.…”

Section: Light-induced Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

Shah

Meier

Vallat-Sauvain

et al. 2003

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

416

243

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This contribution describes the introduction of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mc-Si:H) as novel absorber material for thin-film silicon solar cells. Work done at IMT Neuch# atel in connection with deposition of mc-Si:H layers by very high frequency glow discharge deposition is related in detail. Corresponding layer properties w.r.t. material microstructure, hydrogen content, stability and electronic transport are referred to. Basic properties of single-junction, entirely microcrystalline, thin-film silicon solar cells are related: Spectral response, stability w.r.t. light-induced degradation, basic solar cell parameters (V oc ; J sc and FF) obtained by IMT Neuch# atel and by other laboratories are listed and commented; the deposition rate issue is addressed. Finally, microcrystalline/amorphous, i.e. ''micromorph'' silicon tandem solar cells, are described, together with recent developments on the research and industrial front.

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Section: Light-induced Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

Shah

Meier

Vallat-Sauvain

et al. 2003

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

416

243

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“…However, a-Si is not a stable structure [11] since the prolonged illumination introduces defects that decrease the initial solar cell efficiency [12]. The nanocrystalline material (nc-Si) is much more stable and has broader absorption range in the visible part of the solar radiation [13,14]. Furthermore, due to quantum effects it is possible to change the optical gap by changing the size of nanocrystals [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral and Morphological Studies of Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films Synthesized by PECVD for Solar Cells

Anbarasan

Senthilkumar

Manimegalai

et al. 2010

Silicon

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In this work, a series of nanocrystalline silicon films were studied with different microstructural tools to elucidate the film microstructure at different stages of growth. Thin Si films, with a series of multilayers, were deposited by radio frequency glow discharge using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) in silane gas (SiH 4 ) highly diluted by hydrogen. Different nanostructured films were prepared by systematically varying gas flow ratios (R=1/1, 1/5, 1/7.5, 1/10, 1/15, 1/20) for films having different thicknesses. By changing the structure of the material, going from pure amorphous to nanocrystalline silicon, it is possible to obtain a variation in optical gap using the same material. In these structures, layers with different individual optical gaps are stacked together in order to cover as much of the solar spectrum as possible. The nanostructures of the silicon thin films were studied using FTIR, RS, PL, XRD, AFM, SEM, TEM and HRTEM. The results were correlated for conglomerate surface, grain surface. Some theoretical calculations were used for designing the overall stack geometry and for interpretation of characterization. These agree well with experimental observation.

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“…Additional analyses conducted by AFM coupled with the measurement of the local resistivity on the surface of the same fluorinated HOPG samples [22] have been performed in ambient air with an original laboratory-made device derived from an AFM developed by Houzé [25][26][27]. It allows covering nine decades of tip/sample resistance value (from 100 V to 100 GV).…”

Section: Properties Of the Surface C-f Filmmentioning

confidence: 99%