Silicon nitride and intrinsic amorphous silicon double antireflection coatings for thin-film solar cells on foreign substrates

Li, Da; Kunz, Thomas; Wolf, Nadine D.; Liebig, Jan Philipp; Wittmann, Stephan; Ahmad, Taimoor; Hessmann, M.T.; Auer, R.; Göken, Mathias; Brabec, Christoph J.

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2015.03.051

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…113,114 PECVD SiN:H similarly represents the commonly utilized gate dielectric in a-Si:H thin-film transistor (TFT) technologies, 115,116 and has also been considered as a gate dielectric for organic TFTs 116 and as an anti-reflection coating 117 and surface passivation layer in Si solar cell technologies. 118 In CMOS logic, memory, NEM and other microelectronic device applications, a-SiN:H is instead more commonly utilized either as a dielectric diffusion barrier, etch stop, or hermetic encapsulation layer. 119,120 To compare and contrast the above materials, their full spectrum of thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical, and chemical properties was measured.…”

Section: Ecs Journal Of Solid State Science and Technology 6 (10) N1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review—Investigation and Review of the Thermal, Mechanical, Electrical, Optical, and Structural Properties of Atomic Layer Deposited High-kDielectrics: Beryllium Oxide, Aluminum Oxide, Hafnium Oxide, and Aluminum Nitride

Gaskins

Hopkins

Merrill

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Atomic layer deposited (ALD) high-dielectric-constant (high-k) materials have found extensive applications in a variety of electronic, optical, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic devices. While electrical, optical, and interfacial properties have been the primary consideration for such devices, thermal and mechanical properties are becoming an additional key consideration for many new and emerging applications of ALD high-k materials in electromechanical, energy storage, and organic light emitting diode devices. Unfortunately, a clear correspondence between thermal/mechanical and electrical/optical properties in ALD high-k materials has yet to be established, and a detailed comparison to conventional silicon-based dielectrics to facilitate optimal material selection is also lacking. In this regard, we have conducted a comprehensive investigation and review of the thermal, mechanical, electrical, optical, and structural properties for a series of prevalent and emerging ALD high-k materials including aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ), aluminum nitride (AlN), hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ), and beryllium oxide (BeO). For comparison, more established silicon-based dielectrics were also examined, including thermally grown silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) and plasma-enhanced chemically vapor deposited hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN:H). We find that in addition to exhibiting high values of dielectric permittivity and electrical resistance that exceed those of SiO 2 and SiN:H, the ALD high-k materials exhibit equally exceptional thermal and mechanical properties with coefficients of thermal expansion ≤ 6 × 10 -6 / • C, thermal conductivites (κ) of 3-15 W/m K, and Young's modulus and hardness values exceeding 200 and 25 GPa, respectively. In many cases, the observed extreme thermal/mechanical properties correlate with the presence of crystallinity in the ALD high-k films. In contrast, some of the electrical and optical properties correlate more strongly with the percentage of ionic vs. covalent bonds present in the high-k film. Overall, the ALD high-k dielectrics investigated concurrently exhibit compelling thermal/mechanical and electrical/optical properties. The drive to reduce gate leakage currents in highly scaled complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors has led to the exploration and development of a wide variety of high-dielectricconstant (high-k) materials to replace silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) as the insulating gate dielectric material.1-8 Many of these same high-k materials have found additional applications in future non-CMOS logic and memory storage products such as solid-state electrolytes in resistive switching devices, 9,10 tunnel barriers in spin-transport devices, 11 and as a ferroelectric in magnetoelectric devices. While electrical, physical, and thermodynamic properties have clearly been a key consideration in all of the above applications, thermal properties have become an additional important consideration for higk-k dielectrics as aggressive dimensional scaling of devices has created the need to dissipate ...

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Section: Ecs Journal Of Solid State Science and Technology 6 (10) N1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review—Investigation and Review of the Thermal, Mechanical, Electrical, Optical, and Structural Properties of Atomic Layer Deposited High-kDielectrics: Beryllium Oxide, Aluminum Oxide, Hafnium Oxide, and Aluminum Nitride

Gaskins

Hopkins

Merrill

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) [154], solar cells [155] (including thin-film ones [156]), thermophotovoltaics [157], lasers [158], displays [32] and photolithography [159], are among the main emerging applications of ARCs.…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As outlined in the introduction, there are many applications for antireflective coatings; they are not only for glasses [ 151 ], lenses [ 152 ] and astronomical purposes [ 153 ], but state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices are also highly dependent on ARCs. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) [ 154 ], solar cells [ 155 ] (including thin-film ones [ 156 ]), thermophotovoltaics [ 157 ], lasers [ 158 ], displays [ 32 ] and photolithography [ 159 ], are among the main emerging applications of ARCs.…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antireflective Coatings: Conventional Stacking Layers and Ultrathin Plasmonic Metasurfaces, A Mini-Review

2016

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Reduction of unwanted light reflection from a surface of a substance is very essential for improvement of the performance of optical and photonic devices. Antireflective coatings (ARCs) made of single or stacking layers of dielectrics, nano/microstructures or a mixture of both are the conventional design geometry for suppression of reflection. Recent progress in theoretical nanophotonics and nanofabrication has enabled more flexibility in design and fabrication of miniaturized coatings which has in turn advanced the field of ARCs considerably. In particular, the emergence of plasmonic and metasurfaces allows for the realization of broadband and angular-insensitive ARC coatings at an order of magnitude thinner than the operational wavelengths. In this review, a short overview of the development of ARCs, with particular attention paid to the state-of-the-art plasmonic- and metasurface-based antireflective surfaces, is presented.

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“…They are characterized by an outstanding combination of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties, allowing for their application in different industrial branches. In solar cell applications, they serve as antireflection and passivating coatings [ 1 , 2 ]. The standard method for opening SiNx passivating films is screen printing [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon Nitride and Hydrogenated Silicon Nitride Thin Films: A Review of Fabrication Methods and Applications

Hegedűs

Balázsi

2021

Materials

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Silicon nitride (SiNx) and hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) thin films enjoy widespread scientific interest across multiple application fields. Exceptional combination of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties allows for their utilization in several industries, from solar and semiconductor to coated glass production. The wide bandgap (~5.2 eV) of thin films allows for its optoelectronic application, while the SiNx layers could act as passivation antireflective layers or as a host matrix for silicon nano-inclusions (Si-ni) for solar cell devices. In addition, high water-impermeability of SiNx makes it a potential candidate for barrier layers of organic light emission diodes (OLEDs). This work presents a review of the state-of-the-art process techniques and applications of SiNx and SiNx:H thin films. We focus on the trends and latest achievements of various deposition processes of recent years. Historically, different kinds of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), such as plasma enhanced (PE-CVD) or hot wire (HW-CVD), as well as electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), are the most common deposition methods, while physical vapor deposition (PVD), which is primarily sputtering, is also widely used. Besides these fabrication methods, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an emerging technology due to the fact that it is able to control the deposition at the atomic level and provide extremely thin SiNx layers. The application of these three deposition methods is compared, while special attention is paid to the effect of the fabrication method on the properties of SiNx thin films, particularly the optical, mechanical, and thermal properties.

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Silicon nitride and intrinsic amorphous silicon double antireflection coatings for thin-film solar cells on foreign substrates

Cited by 12 publications

References 30 publications

Review—Investigation and Review of the Thermal, Mechanical, Electrical, Optical, and Structural Properties of Atomic Layer Deposited High-kDielectrics: Beryllium Oxide, Aluminum Oxide, Hafnium Oxide, and Aluminum Nitride

Review—Investigation and Review of the Thermal, Mechanical, Electrical, Optical, and Structural Properties of Atomic Layer Deposited High-kDielectrics: Beryllium Oxide, Aluminum Oxide, Hafnium Oxide, and Aluminum Nitride

Antireflective Coatings: Conventional Stacking Layers and Ultrathin Plasmonic Metasurfaces, A Mini-Review

Silicon Nitride and Hydrogenated Silicon Nitride Thin Films: A Review of Fabrication Methods and Applications

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