Variation of passivation behavior induced by sputtered energetic particles and thermal annealing for ITO/SiO x /Si system

Abstract

The damage on the atomic bonding and electronic state in a SiO x (1.4-2.3 nm)/c-Si(150 µm) interface has been investigated. This occurred in the process of depositing indium tin oxide (ITO) film onto the silicon substrate by magnetron sputtering. We observe that this damage is caused by energetic particles produced in the plasma (atoms, ions, and UV light). The passivation quality and the variation on interface states of the SiO x /c-Si system were mainly studied by using effective minority carrier lifetime (τ eff ) measurement as a potential evaluation. The results showed that the samples' τ eff was reduced by more than 90% after ITO formation, declined from 107 µs to 5 µs. Following vacuum annealing at 200 • C, the τ eff can be restored to 30 µs. The components of Si to O bonding states at the SiO x /c-Si interface were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) coupled with depth profiling. The amorphous phase of the SiO x layer and the "atomistic interleaving structure" at the SiO x /c-Si interface was observed by a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The chemical configuration of the Si-O fraction within the intermediate region is the main reason for inducing the variation of Si dangling bonds (or interface states) and effective minority carrier lifetime. After an appropriate annealing, the reduction of the Si dangling bonds between SiO x and near the c-Si surface is helpful to improve the passivation effect.

Improvement of corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of chrome plating by diamond-like carbon coating with different silicon-based interlayers

“…It can be seen that the Si2p spectrum was decomposed into six peaks located at binding energies of about ∼99.3, ∼100.0, ∼100.6, ∼101.4±0.08, ∼102.5±0.10, and ∼103.5±0.10 eV. These peaks were observed from the functional group of Si2p, Si 2 O, SiO, Si 2 O 3 , and SiO 2 and are in agreement with those in other works [32,33]. It was found that the Si2p spectrum contains two spin splitting peaks, which may be overlapping spin-orbit components resulting in an asymmetric peak shape.…”

Switching Enhancement via a Back-Channel Phase-Controlling Layer for p-Type Copper Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

“…To determine which factors produced the effects in the channel layer, we investigated the device’s electrical performance by varying the PCL deposition conditions. As revealed in previous studies, PCL deposition via sputtering can damage the oxide semiconductor by creating defects in the material, thus changing its electronic structure; specifically, high-energy ion impingement in the back-channel degrades the film network by breaking the metal–oxide (M–O) bonds. , Therefore, we varied the SiO 2 PCL deposition power (i.e., the ion energy) during the sputtering process to investigate the effects of sputtering damage on TFT performance. According to the transfer characteristics of the device shown in Figure a, the degree of improvement in the switching characteristics of the device increased with the sputtering power from 50 to 150 W; additionally, the off-current level decreased.…”

Red Zn2SiO4:Eu3+ and Mg2TiO4:Mn4+ nanophosphors for on-site rapid optical detections: Synthesis and characterization

“…Figure 3 shows a peak at 532.9 eV, which is attributed to the O 1 s band [ 52 , 53 ]. The Si 2p and Si–O peaks are at 99.7 and 103.4 eV, respectively [ 53 – 55 ]. The characteristic Zn peaks, 2p 3/2 and 2p 1/2 , were observed at 1021 and 1045 eV, respectively [ 56 , 57 ].…”