Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films by the Pyrolysis of Disilane(1)

1985 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Chu ◽  
Shirley S. Chu ◽  
S. T. Ang ◽  
D. H. Lo ◽  
A. Duong ◽  
...  

AbstractThe thermal decomposition of disilane in a hydrogen or helium flow has been used for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films on the surface of several substrates at 450°-500°C. The concentration of disilane in the reaction mixture has been found to affect strongly the deposition rate and the photoconductivity of a-Si:H films. The AMI conductivity of a-Si:H films increases with increasing disilane concentration and approaches lO−5(ohm-cm)−l at disilane concentrations higher than about 4%, and the conductivity ratio is about lO5. The density of gap states in CVD a-Si:H films have been determined by the photothermal deflection spectroscopy, capacitancetemperature, capacitance-frequency, and space-charged-limited current measurements with similar results.

2009 ◽  
Vol 1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Simonds ◽  
Feng Zhu ◽  
Josh Gallon ◽  
Jian Hu ◽  
Arun Madan ◽  
...  

AbstractHydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide alloys are being investigated as a possible top photoelectrode in photoelectrochemical cells used for hydrogen production through water splitting. In order to be used as such, it is important that the effects of carbon concentration on bonding, and thus on the electronic and optical properties, is well understood. Electron spin resonance experiments were performed under varying experimental conditions to study the defect concentrations. The dominant defects are silicon dangling bonds. At room temperature, the spin densities varied between 1016 and 1018 spins/cm3 depending on the carbon concentration. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy, which is an extremely sensitive measurement of low levels of absorption in thin films, was performed to investigate the slope of the Urbach tail. These slopes are 78 meV for films containing the lowest carbon concentration and 98 meV for those containing the highest carbon concentration.


2000 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent P. Nelson ◽  
Yueqin Xu ◽  
A. Harv Mahan ◽  
D.L. Williamson ◽  
R.S. Crandal

ABSTRACTWe grow hydrogenated amorphous-silicon (a-Si:H) by the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) technique. In our standard tube-reactor we use a single filament, centered 5 cm below the substrate and obtain deposition rates up to 20 Å/s. However, by adding a second filament, and decreasing the filament-to-substrate distance, we are able to grow a-Si:H at deposition rates exceeding 167 Å/s (1 µm/min). We find the deposition rate increases with increasing deposition pressure, silane flow rate, and filament current and decreasing filament-tosubstrate distance. There are significant interactions among these parameters that require optimization to grow films of optimal quality for a desired deposition rate. Using our best conditions, we are able to maintain an AM1.5 photoconductivity-to-dark-conductivity ratio of 105 at deposition rates up to 130 Å/s, beyond which the conductivity ratio decreases. Other electronic properties decrease more rapidly with increasing deposition rate, including the ambipolar diffusion length, Urbach energy, and the as-grown defect density. Measurements of void density by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) reveal an increase by well over an order of magnitude when going from one to two filaments. However, both Raman and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements show no change in film structure with increasing deposition rates up to 144 Å/s, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) reveals little change in topology.


1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenlin Chen ◽  
P. C. Taylor ◽  
J. M. Viner

ABSTRACTHydrogenated amorphous silicon alloyed with selenium has been made by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The activation energy for electrical conduction is essentially unchanged for selenium concentrations < 1 at.%. The photo conductivity changes for selenium concentrations > 0.5 at. %. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) and electron spin resonance (ESR), respectively, show that the width of the valence band tail states and the density of neutral silicon dangling bonds also change for selenium concentrations > 0.5 at. %.


2003 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Brinza ◽  
W.M.M. Kessel ◽  
Arno H.M Smets ◽  
M.C.M van de Sanden ◽  
Guy J. Adriaenssens

AbstractAn interpretation of post-transit photocurrents in a time-of-flight experiment in terms of the underlying density of localized gap states in the sample is presented for the case of hydrogenated amorphous silicon cells prepared by the expanding thermal plasma technique. It is pointed out that part of the observed current is not generated by re-emission of trapped photo-generated charge and should, therefore, not be used for density-of-states calculations.


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