Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Alloyed with Selenium

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. %.

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.


1990 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideki Matsumura ◽  
Masaaki Yamaguchi ◽  
Kazuo Morigaki

ABSTRACTHydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe:H) films are prepared by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) method using a SiH4, GeH4 and H4 gas mixture. Properties of the films are investigated by the photo-thermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements, in addition to the photo-conductive and structural studies. It is found that the characteristic energy of Urbach tail, ESR spin density and other photo-conductive properties of Cat-CVD a-SiGe:H films with optical band gaps around 1.45 eV are almost equivalent to those of the device quality glow discharge hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H).


1992 ◽  
Vol 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Q. Gu ◽  
J. M. Viner ◽  
P. C. Taylor ◽  
M. J. Williams ◽  
W. A. Turner ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPhotoluminescence (PL) has been investigated in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) samples as a function of boron doping for films prepared by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. When the dark conductivity a is below about 10-5 S/cm, the PL spectra exhibit a shape which is close to that of the so-called band tail PL in undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) at 77 K. When a increases, the PL intensity decreases at 77 K. For samples with a on the order of 10-3 S/cm, the PL spectra show only a narrow, low energy PL band which peaks around 0.8–0.9 eV. In these samples, the PL at higher energy is essentially not observable. This trend is similar to that which occurs in doped a-Si:H. However, for higher doping levels (σ ∼ 1 S/cm) the PL in μc-Si:H, although very weak, exhibits a broad band which contains intensity at higher energies. The absorption spectra in these samples, as measured by photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS), show the same relationships with the corresponding PL spectra as do the PDS spectra in doped a-Si:H.


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