ABSTRACTContactless transient photoconductivity measurements of a-Si:H / c-Si heterojunctions are presented. It is shown that n a-Si:H / n c-Si junctions furnish an excellent passivation of the n c-Si surface. For i a-Si:H / n c-Si junctions the passivation is better for thicker films, whereas for very thin films (10 nm or less) a deviating behaviour probably due to inhomogeneities is observed. For the p a-Si:H / n c-Si junction separation of excess charge carriers in the space charge region is observed leading to a slowly decaying tail of the signal. This separation is also observed in thick i a-Si:H / n c-Si samples where electrons are injected from the a-Si:H film in the c-Si substrate.
Micropillar arrays with radial p–n junctions are attractive for photovoltaic applications, because the light absorption and carrier collection become decoupled. The main challenge in manufacturing radial p–n junctions is achieving shallow (dopant depth <200 nm) and heavy doping (>1020 cm−3) that will allow the formation of a quasi-neutral region (QNR) and space charge region (SCR) in its tiny geometry. This experimental study investigates an approach that allows shallow and heavy doping in silicon micropillars. It aims to demonstrate that silicon dioxide (SiO2) can be used to control the dopant penetration depth in silicon micropillars.
First-principles calculations were utilized to elucidate the complete defect equilibria of surfaces of proton conducting BaZrO3, encompassing charged species adsorbed to the surface, defects in the surface layer as well as in the subsurface space-charge region and bulk.