非晶态半导体中的分形结构

非晶态半导体硅(α-Si:H)薄膜作为新型的光电子材料,近年来备受关注,发展迅速。但其晶化机理有待深入探索。用分形理论所作的分析表明,在一定条件下,a-Si:H薄膜中形成的微结构具有分形性质。本文计算了分维值,讨论了a-Si:H薄膜结构弛豫(相变)与分形结构形成的关联,和非晶硅薄膜可能的晶化机理。并研究了在高真空中用透射电子显微镜(TEM)及动态方法跟踪观测a-Si:H薄膜原位(in situ)退火过程中发生的晶化现象,获得晶化形貌的显微图像。利用图像处理技术对显微像进行光电转换,A/D转换和数字计算,得到a-Si:H薄膜样品在不同退火条件下,显微象的Sandbox关系曲线。从而获得薄膜中形成不同分形结构的分维。文中给出应用分形理论对非晶态半导体薄膜进行分析的技术细节。     

Confined high-pressure chemical deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is one of the most technologically important semiconductors. The challenge in producing it from SiH(4) precursor is to overcome a significant kinetic barrier to decomposition at a low enough temperature to allow for hydrogen incorporation into a deposited film. The use of high precursor concentrations is one possible means to increase reaction rates at low enough temperatures, but in conventional reactors such an approach produces large numbers of homogeneously nucleated particles in the gas phase, rather than the desired heterogeneous deposition on a surface. We report that deposition in confined micro-/nanoreactors overcomes this difficulty, allowing for the use of silane concentrations many orders of magnitude higher than conventionally employed while still realizing well-developed films. a-Si:H micro-/nanowires can be deposited in this way in extreme aspect ratio, small-diameter optical fiber capillary templates. The semiconductor materials deposited have ~0.5 atom% hydrogen with passivated dangling bonds and good electronic properties. They should be suitable for a wide range of photonic and electronic applications such as nonlinear optical fibers and solar cells.     

SIMS depth profile analysis for investigations of the lithium-diffusion in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Summary SIMS depth profiling, using an oxygen primary beam at close to normal incidence, was applied to study lithium diffusion in thin films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) as well as in layered structures of doped and undoped silicon-based alloys. A strongly increasing decay length of the lithium profiles was observed for increasing primary beam energies and is attributed to the Li accumulation at the SiO_x/Si interface. The stability of the lithium incorporation in a-Si:H is found to depend on the presence of charged acceptors or defects and of doping gradient related electrical fields.     

Dominant reaction channels and the mechanism of silane decomposition in a H2-Si(s)-SiH4 glow discharge

Chemical relaxation mass spectrometry has been used to study the kinetics and mechanism in the silane-hydrogen-solid silicon system under conditions of glow discharge. The emphasis was on the main processes related to the deposition of amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon thin films. It is shown that under conditions of the deposition of a-Si and nc-Si the dominant reaction channel is the electron impact induced fragmentation of silane into molecular hydrogen and SiH₂ radical. The role of other processes, such as hydrogen abstraction, is discussed.     

Effect of ex situ hydrogenation on the structure and electrochemical properties of amorphous silicon thin film

Nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries were widely used due to their various advantages, but its further application and development have been seriously hindered by the low electrochemical discharge capacity of conventional hydrogen storage alloy electrode. The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film electrode for Ni-MH battery has been proven to have a dramatic electrochemical capacity. We prepared a-Si:H thin films by a two-step process of rf-sputtering followed by hydrogenation, and investigated the effect of hydrogenation on the structure and electrochemical properties of which as an anode. The maximum discharge capacity of a-Si:H thin film electrode after hydrogenation increases from initial 180 mAh·g⁻¹to 1827 mAh·g⁻¹, which is over tenfold that of as-deposited hydrogen-less a-Si thin film electrode. Then, the preliminary relationships between hydrogen content and electrochemical performance of a-Si:H thin film electrode were analyzed, and several negative factors of electrochemical performance for a-Si:H thin film electrode were proposed.

     

First-principles theoretical analysis of silyl radical diffusion on silicon surfaces

We report results from a detailed analysis of the fundamental radical precursor diffusion processes on silicon surfaces and discuss their implications for the surface smoothness of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. The analysis is based on a synergistic combination of first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations of SiH(3) radical migration on the hydrogen-terminated Si(001)-(2 x 1) surface with molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of SiH(3) radical precursor migration on surfaces of a-Si:H films. Our DFT calculations yield activation energies for SiH(3) migration that range from 0.18 to 0.89 eV depending on the local electronic environment on the Si(001)-(2 x 1):H surface. In particular, when no substantial surface relaxation (Si-Si bond breaking or formation) accompanies the hopping of the SiH(3) radical the activation barriers are highest, whereas hopping between nearest-neighbor overcoordinated surface Si atoms results in the lowest radical diffusion barrier of 0.18 eV; this low barrier is consistent with the activation barrier for SiH(3) migration through overcoordinated sites on the a-Si:H surface. Specifically, the analysis of the MD simulations of SiH(3) radical migration on a-Si:H surfaces yields an effective diffusion barrier of 0.16 eV, allowing for the rapid migration of the SiH(3) radical prior to its incorporation in surface valleys; rapid migration and subsequent incorporation constitute the two-step mechanism responsible for the smoothness of plasma deposited a-Si:H thin films.     

掺硼p型非晶硅薄膜的制备及光学性能的表征

以高氢稀释的硅烷(SiH₄ )为反应气体,硼烷(B₂H₆)为掺杂气体,利用RF-PECVD方法,在玻璃衬底上制备出掺硼的氢化非晶硅(a-Si:H)薄膜,研究了硼掺杂量对氢化非晶硅(a-Si:H)薄膜的光学性能的影响.利用NKD-7000 W光学薄膜分析系统测试薄膜的透射谱和反射谱,并利用该系统的软件拟合得出薄膜的折射率、消光系数、吸收系数等光学性能参数,利用Tauc法计算掺硼的非晶硅薄膜的光学带隙.实验结果表明,随着硼掺杂量的增加,掺杂非晶硅薄膜样品在同一波长处的折射率先增大后减小,而且每一样品均随着入射光波长的增加而减小,在波长500 nm处的折射率均达到4.3以上;薄膜的消光系数和吸收系数随着硼掺杂量的增大而增大,在500 nm处的吸收系数可高达1.5×10⁵cm^-1.在实验的硼掺杂范围内,光学带隙从1.81 eV变化到1.71 eV.     

Interactions between radical growth precursors on plasma-deposited silicon thin-film surfaces

We present a detailed analysis of the interactions between growth precursors, SiH3 radicals, on surfaces of silicon thin films. The analysis is based on a synergistic combination of density functional theory calculations on the hydrogen-terminated Si(001)-(2x1) surface and molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of film growth on surfaces of MD-generated hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. In particular, the authors find that two interacting growth precursors may either form disilane (Si2H6) and desorb from the surface, or disproportionate, resulting in the formation of a surface dihydride (adsorbed SiH2 species) and gas-phase silane (SiH4). The reaction barrier for disilane formation is found to be strongly dependent on the local chemical environment on the silicon surface and reduces (or vanishes) if one/both of the interacting precursors is/are in a "fast diffusing state," i.e., attached to fivefold coordinated surface Si atoms. Finally, activation energy barriers in excess of 1 eV are obtained for two chemisorbed (i.e., bonded to a fourfold coordinated surface Si atom) SiH3 radicals. Activation energy barriers for disproportionation follow the same tendency, though, in most cases, higher barriers are obtained compared to disilane formation reactions starting from the same initial configuration. MD simulations confirm that disilane formation and disproportionation reactions also occur on a-Si:H growth surfaces, preferentially in configurations where at least one of the SiH3 radicals is in a "diffusive state." Our results are in agreement with experimental observations and results of plasma process simulators showing that the primary source for disilane in low-power plasmas may be the substrate surface.     

Mechanisms and energetics of hydride dissociation reactions on surfaces of plasma-deposited silicon thin films

We report results from a detailed analysis of the fundamental silicon hydride dissociation processes on silicon surfaces and discuss their implications for the surface chemical composition of plasma-deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. The analysis is based on a synergistic combination of first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations of hydride dissociation on the hydrogen-terminated Si(001)-(2x1) surface and molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of adsorbed SiH(3) radical precursor dissociation on surfaces of MD-grown a-Si:H films. Our DFT calculations reveal that, in the presence of fivefold coordinated surface Si atoms, surface trihydride species dissociate sequentially to form surface dihydrides and surface monohydrides via thermally activated pathways with reaction barriers of 0.40-0.55 eV. The presence of dangling bonds (DBs) results in lowering the activation barrier for hydride dissociation to 0.15-0.20 eV, but such DB-mediated reactions are infrequent. Our MD simulations on a-Si:H film growth surfaces indicate that surface hydride dissociation reactions are predominantly mediated by fivefold coordinated surface Si atoms, with resulting activation barriers of 0.35-0.50 eV. The results are consistent with experimental measurements of a-Si:H film surface composition using in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which indicate that the a-Si:H surface is predominantly covered with the higher hydrides at low temperatures, while the surface monohydride, SiH((s)), becomes increasingly more dominant as the temperature is increased.     

Photoelectrochemical Behaviour of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon(a-Si:H) Films

Photoelectrochemical techniques have been employed in the investigation of p-type, n-type and intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H) films. The results show that the photocurrent response of the films strongly depends on the doped type electrolyte solution and the redox potential of the redox couples. Intrinsic a-Si:H film yields a stable photocurrent much higher than the p- and n-type ones. Based on the measurements, the energy levels and flatband potential of the intrinsic a-Si:H film are given, and the mechanisms of charge transfer in photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) are discussed.     

Modelling the dielectric function of thin films measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry: determination of microstructure and density

The dielectric function of thin-film amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by the glow discharge and hot wire technique has been investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry. An improved interpretation of the ellipsometric data taking into account the influence of hydrogen incorporation into the amorphous network enables to determine the film density and the void volume fraction of the material. Thus ellipsometry provides a convenient and contactless means of characterizing the structural properties of thin films. The film density varies considerably with substrate temperature and hydrogen content depending on the individual deposition technique. A reduction of film density is mainly caused by the formation of voids in the amorphous network. The influence of the substrate temperature on the growth of dense a-Si: H films is pointed out.     

非晶硅短程序与电子结构关系的量子化学研究

本支通过对Si_(29)无规网络原子簇模型的CNDO计算,探讨了非晶硅(a-Si)结构短程序对其电子态密度(DOS)分布的影响。结果表明,在与实验原子径向分布函数(RDF)基本相同的条件下,a-Si模型中的键角和二面角是影响电子态密度分布的主要参数。     

An EELS and EXELFS study of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide

A series of thin films of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiCH) produced by RF plasma decomposition of propane and silane has been studied by electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS) studies. The composition of the films has been determined by EELS and the nearest neighbour spacings have been determined by EXELFS. These results, along with the energy of the plasmon loss peaks, have been compared with the deposition conditions for each film. The results show that for a large gas ratio (C₃H₈/(C₃H₈+SiH₄)) the films have a high proportion of carbon and are similar to a-CH in structure, whereas those films prepared with Y = 0.4 or 0.5 have nearest neighbour spacings consistent with those for tetrahedrally bonded carbon. The films prepared with lowest Y have nearest neighbour spacings similar to those for amorphous silicon carbide. The results for a-SiCH have been compared with the results of EELS and EXELFS of CVD diamond films, amorphous carbon and amorphous silicon.     

不同形貌的金字塔结构对硅片表面钝化和异质结太阳电池的影响

在晶体硅表面沉积本征非晶硅层的异质结（SHJ）太阳电池以其高效率、高稳定性、低成本和低温制备等诸多优势被人们广泛关注. 在晶体硅衬底表面制绒,是提高太阳电池效率的有效途径之一. 本文采用四甲基氢氧化铵（TMAH）在硅片表面制备了不同形貌的金字塔结构的硅异质结电池衬底,并应用到电池中. 通过研究不同金字塔的形貌,光学特性以及电学特性,找出提高硅片钝化效果,改善异质结电池的性能的优化的金字塔结构. 结果表明：2%（w）TMAH,10%（w）异丙醇（IPA）可以在硅片表面制得标准四面体金字塔结构. 和其它两种金字塔结构相比较,标准四面体金字塔结构绒面衬底反射率最低,可以提高太阳电池的短路电流密度（J_sc）. 同时,这种结构金字塔形貌可以提高钝化效果,改善电池各项性能参数.     

不同形貌的金字塔结构对硅片表面钝化和异质结太阳电池的影响

在晶体硅表面沉积本征非晶硅层的异质结(SHJ)太阳电池以其高效率、高稳定性、低成本和低温制备等诸多优势被人们广泛关注.在晶体硅衬底表面制绒,是提高太阳电池效率的有效途径之一.本文采用四甲基氢氧化铵(TMAH)在硅片表面制备了不同形貌的金字塔结构的硅异质结电池衬底,并应用到电池中.通过研究不同金字塔的形貌,光学特性以及电学特性,找出提高硅片钝化效果,改善异质结电池的性能的优化的金字塔结构.结果表明:2%(w)TMAH,10%(w)异丙醇(IPA)可以在硅片表面制得标准四面体金字塔结构.和其它两种金字塔结构相比较,标准四面体金字塔结构绒面衬底反射率最低,可以提高太阳电池的短路电流密度(Jsc).同时,这种结构金字塔形貌可以提高钝化效果,改善电池各项性能参数.     

Characterizing the nature of virtual amorphous silicon

Virtual samples of approximations to real amorphous silicon, a-Si, have been prepared using several different processing routes. These include a fast quench from the melt followed by a long slow annealing period using molecular dynamics, a Reverse Monte Carlo approach, and an ab initio minimization. The characterization of these virtual a-Si samples includes a consideration of structural data (the radial distribution function, angular order, etc.), electronic properties (through the density of states), and thermodynamic information (chiefly the nature of the phase transformation from a-Si to liquid). The properties of a-Si are compared to network models, via the continuous random network model, and to experiment. We investigated the stability of virtual a-Si and consider its implications for use in future simulation studies. We have demonstrated the necessity for the accuracy provided by ab initio-based models to describe the interatomic potentials. Throughout this study, we have monitored the role of order in determining physical properties, as characterized by traditional routes (such as angular correlations) and more novel ones (the signature cell method).     

Synthesis of amorphous silicon colloids by trisilane thermolysis in high temperature supercritical solvents

Colloidal submicrometer-diameter amorphous silicon (a-Si) particles are synthesized with >90% yield by thermal decomposition of trisilane (Si3H8) in supercritical hexane at temperatures ranging from 400 to 500 degrees C and pressures up to 345 bar. A range of synthetic conditions was explored to optimize the quality of the product. Under the appropriate synthetic conditions, the colloids are spherical and unagglomerated. The colloids can be produced with average diameters ranging from 50 to 500 nm by manipulating the precursor concentration, temperature, and pressure. Relatively narrow particle size distributions, as measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), with standard deviations about the mean as low as approximately +/-10% could be obtained in some cases. We explored the thermal annealing of the amorphous silicon particles after isolation from the reactor and found that crystallization to diamond structure silicon occurred at temperatures as low as 650 degrees C. The amorphous and crystalline materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction and high resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy.     

Endogenous and exogenous hydrogen influence on amorphous silicon thin films analysis by pulsed radiofrequency glow discharge optical emission spectrometry

During the last decade the photovoltaic industry has been growing rapidly. One major strategy to reduce the production costs is the use of thin film solar cells based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The potential of pulsed radiofrequency glow discharge coupled to optical emission spectrometry (rf-PGD-OES) for the analysis of such type of materials has been investigated in this work. It is known that when hydrogen is present in the argon discharge, even in small quantities, significant changes can occur in the emission intensities and sputtering rates measured. Therefore, a critical comparison has been carried out by rf-PGD-OES, in terms of emission intensities, penetration rates and depth resolution for two modes of hydrogen introduction in the discharge, manually external hydrogen in gaseous form (0.2% H₂–Ar) or internal hydrogen, sputtered as a sample constituent. First, a comparative optimisation study (at 600 Pa and 50 W) was performed on conducting materials and on a silicon wafer varying the pulse parameters: pulse frequency (500 Hz–20 kHz) and duty cycle (12.5–50%). Finally, 600 Pa, 50 W, 10 kHz and 25% duty cycle were selected as the optimum conditions to analyse three types of hydrogenated samples: an intrinsic, a B-doped and a P-doped layer based on a-Si:H. Enhanced emission intensities have been measured for most elements in the presence of hydrogen (especially for silicon) despite the observed reduced sputtering rate. The influence of externally added hydrogen and that of hydrogen sputtered as sample constituent from the analysed samples has been evaluated.     

Silane pyrolysis

We show that silane pyrolysis is initiated by decomposition on the amorphous silicon surface, with an activation energy E_a of 56 kcal/mole. The observed surface decomposition rate is only weakly dependent on silane pressure. Much faster delayed decomposition rates, approximately independent of surface area and proportional to pressure, are shown to be initiated by surface reactons. A model for surface decomposition is given. Also a model for gas reactions is suggested based on H atom or SiH₃ release by surface decomposition, causing chain reactions that process the gas to higher silanes that decompose rapidly. This model can explain the previous observations that the initial disilane formation rate and the delayed decomposition rate were independent of the surface area to volume ratio A/V, which had misled previous investigators to suggest homogeneous initiation processes.     

Interdispersed silicon–carbon nanocomposites and their application as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), silicon offers among the highest theoretical storage capacity, but is known to suffer from large structural changes and capacity fading during electrochemical cycling. Nanocomposites of silicon with carbon provide a potential material platform for resolving this problem. We report a spray-pyrolysis approach for synthesizing amorphous silicon–carbon nanocomposites from organic silane precursors. Elemental mapping shows that the amorphous silicon is uniformly dispersed in the carbon matrix. When evaluated as anode materials in LIBs, the materials exhibit highly, stable performance and excellent Coulombic efficiency for more than 150 charge discharge cycles at a charging rate of 1 A/g. Post-mortem analysis indicates that the structure of the Si–C composite is retained after extended electrochemical cycling, confirming the hypothesis that better mechanical buffering is obtained when amorphous Si is embedded in a carbon matrix.