Determination of the Interface States in Amorphous/Crystalline Silicon Using Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy

ABSTRACTExtension of the Kelvin probe vibrating capacitor technique of measuring work function, via Illumination of the semiconductor surface, i.e., Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy (SPS), has many potential applications in the field of surface analysis.The combination of broad-band (white) and monochromatic radiation, together with measurement of the dark signal permits complete characterisation of the semiconductor work function via determination of the electron-affinity, surface potential and Local DensIty-of-States (LDOS). The work function is an extremely sensitive indicator of a wide range of surface processes, e.g., particle adsorption, stress, defect creation, phase-transitions, etc.We Illustrate application of this technique in the study of the temperature dependent initial oxidation behaviour of p-type Si(111) 7×7 between 100 and 300 K. The SPV response of the clean surface at 100 K corresponds to the capture of photo-stimulated electrons by a band of surface states centered around 1.4, 1.7, 1.9 and 2.4 eV. This response completely disappears at the peak of the (dark) work function change (0.3L) corresponding to a near complete removal of dangling bond states. The temperature-dependent white-light SPS response permits determination of the band-bending throughout the adsorption process. We observe that at 100 K the band-bending substantially decreases during the initial adsorption phase (0.1 L), after this dose it remains constant. However at 300 K the band-bending decreases much later, i.e., >10 L, in conjunction with oxygen permeation through the surface layer.In conclusion Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy SPS is a simple and flexible method which can be used to follow the rather complex changes occurring at the semiconductor surface. It is a non-contact, nondestructive technique which allows simultaneous determination of both semiconductor band-bending and electron affinity.

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Characterization of amorphous/crystalline silicon interfaces from electrical measurements

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-1066-a04-01 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1066 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jean-Paul Kleider ◽

A. S. Gudovskikh

Keyword(s):

Crystalline Silicon ◽

Inversion Layer ◽

Forward Bias ◽

Interface States ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Good Precision ◽

Electrical Measurements ◽

Conduction Band Offset ◽

Strong Inversion

ABSTRACTElectrical techniques based on capacitance and conductance measurements are powerful tools for interface characterization in semiconductor heterostructures. We here detail their application to the study of the heterointerface formed between hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and crystalline silicon (c-Si). The main parameters governing the device applications are the conduction and valence band mismatch, and the density of interface states. The presence of a high interface states density can be revealed by capacitance versus temperature and frequency measurements. For very high quality interfaces that are required for instance to reach high conversion efficiencies in solar cells, the usual measurements performed in the dark and at zero or reverse bias are not sensitive enough. We show that the sensivity to interface states can be enhanced by using capacitance measurements under illumination and at a forward bias close or equal to the open-circuit voltage. In this case, the measured capacitance is determined by the diffusion of free carriers in c-Si and limited by recombination at the interface. Regarding the determination of band offsets, the method using a plot of the inverse square capacitance as a function of bias to determine the intercept of the extrapolated linear region is shown to lead to errors even in the absence of any interface charge. This is due to the presence of a strong inversion layer in c-Si at the interface, the effect of which has been ignored so far in the literature. The presence of this strong inversion layer is evidenced from planar conductance measurements on (n) a-Si:H/(p) c-Si structures. We emphasize that these measurements are very sensitive to details of the band structure profile. In particular, it is shown that the temperature dependence of the sheet electron density allows the determination of the conduction band offset between a-Si:H and c-Si with a good precision. We find 0.15 ± 0.04 eV.

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