Characterization of SIPOS films by spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission electron microscopy

The structural and compositional properties of undoped SIPOS thin films have been studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that in most cases the former method provides fast and reliable results. The growth rate and crystallinity of SIPOS layers are studied as a function of N₂O concentration in the gas phase and annealing temperature.     

Erbium doping of crystalline and amorphous silicon for optoelectronic applications

Summary In this work we demonstrate that efficient light emission at 1.54 μm can be achieved when Er ions are incorporated into crystalline Si or in heavily oxygen-doped amorphous and polycrystalline Si films (SIPOS). We have found that temperature quenching of photo- and electroluminescence, which is the major limitation towards the achievement of room temperature luminescence, can be strongly reduced by codoping these films with oxygen. This impurity is already present in as-prepared SIPOS and it is introduced by ion-implantation in crystalline Si. Er luminescence is obtained under both optical and electrical excitation and we demonstrate that excitation occurs through a carrier-mediated process. Electrical excitation is obtained by incorporating Er in properly designed device structures. It is found that this excitation can occur both through the recombination of hole-electron pairs and through impact excitation of the Er ions by hot electrons. These two mechanisms have different efficiencies and impact excitation is shown to prevail at room temperature. These data are presented and possible future developments are discussed. Paper presented at the III INSEL (Incontro Nazionale sul Silicio Emettitore di Luce), Torino, 12–13 October 1995.     

Amorphous films of CuS

Thin films of CuS have been prepared by reactive evaporation of copper in a sulphur atmosphere. It is found that films deposited on to substrates kept below 315 K are amorphous in nature. The amorphous films have a resistivity of ～ 10⁵ ohm cm and are n-type. The films are golden yellow in colour and are fairly transparent before the onset of band to band transitions. Optical studies give a band gap of 1.60 eV at room temperature (295 K).     

非晶硅薄膜晶化过程中微结构的分析

使用X射线衍射技术和高分辨率电子显微镜(HREM),分析研究了在非晶硅薄膜由非晶相向微晶相转化过程中其网络结构的变化特征,由此,给人们一个直观的信息,并加深对非晶硅薄膜微结构的认识。 关键词：     

Features of the structure and defect states in hydrogenated polymorphous silicon films

The structural and electronic properties of thin hydrogenated polymorphous silicon films obtained by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition from hydrogen (H₂) and monosilane (SiH₄) gas mixture have been studied by means of transmission electron microscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. It has been established that the studied films consist of the amorphous phase containing silicon nanocrystalline inclusions with the average size on the order of 4–5 nm and the volume fraction of 10%. A signal was observed in the hydrogenated polymorphous silicon films during the EPR investigation that is attributed to the electrons trapped in the conduction band tail of microcrystalline silicon. It has been shown that the introduction of a small fraction of nanocrystals into the amorphous silicon films nonadditively changes the electronic properties of the material.     

Tuning the plasmon resonance of metallic tin nanocrystals in Si-based materials

The optical properties of metallic tin nanoparticles embedded in silicon-based host materials were studied. Thin films containing the nanoparticles were produced using RF magnetron sputtering followed by ex situ heat treatment. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the nanoparticle shape and size distribution; spherical, metallic tin nanoparticles were always found. The presence of a localized surface plasmon resonance in the nanoparticles was observed when SiO₂ and amorphous silicon were the host materials. Optical spectroscopy revealed that the localized surface plasmon resonance is at approximately 5.5 eV for tin nanoparticles in SiO₂, and at approximately 2.5 eV in amorphous silicon. The size of the tin nanoparticles in SiO₂ can be varied by changing the tin content of the films; this was used to tune the localized surface plasmon resonance.     

Annealing behavior of spin density in UHV evaporated amorphous silicon

The ESR of amorphous silicon films evaporated in UHV has been measured at room temperature. Up to 900°C the annealing behavior of the spin density in the amorphous silicon films is quite different from that of films deposited in conventional HV.     

碳化硅薄膜脉冲激光晶化特性研究

采用XeCl准分子激光对非晶碳化硅(a-SiC)薄膜的脉冲激光晶化特性进行了研究.通过原子力显微镜（AFM）和Raman光谱技术对退火前后薄膜样品的形貌、结构及物相特性进行了分析.结果表明，选用合适的激光能量采用激光退火技术能够实现a-SiC薄膜的纳米晶化.退火薄膜中的纳米颗粒大小随着激光能量密度的增加而增大；Raman谱分析结果显示了退火后的薄膜的晶态结构特性并给出了伴随退火过程存在的物相分凝现象.根据以上结果并结合激光退火特性，对a-SiC的脉冲激光晶化机理进行了讨论. 关键词： 激光退火 晶化 碳化硅     

镶嵌在氢化氮化硅中纳米非晶硅粒子光吸收的模拟

采用量子限制效应模型对镶嵌有纳米非晶硅粒子的氢化氮化硅薄膜的光吸收进行了理论模拟,探讨了由吸收谱分析给出该结构薄膜光学参数的方法,并通过对不同氮含量样品的讨论给出了量子限制效应和纳米硅粒子表面的结构无序对薄膜光吸收特性的影响规律。分析结果表明,随氮含量的增加,薄膜有效光学带隙增大,该结果与薄膜中纳米硅粒子平均尺寸的减小引起的量子限制效应的增强相关,而小粒度纳米硅粒子比例增加所引入的较高微观结构无序度和较多缺陷将会导致薄膜低能吸收区吸收系数增加。     

Raman spectroscopy of amorphous silicon subjected to laser annealing

The effect of laser radiation power on the Raman spectra of amorphous silicon obtained by electron-beam evaporation has been revealed. The formation of nanocrystalline inclusions in the amorphous matrix under exposure to a laser with a power of more than 2.5 mW is established by Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The influence of the fabrication conditions (substrate temperature and annealing in a vacuum) of source amorphous silicon films on the formation of nanocrystalline inclusions formed by subsequent laser treatment has been investigated. The features of silicon nanocrystal formation in cases when the original amorphous silicon film is obtained at a substrate temperature of ∼250°C have been revealed. These features may be associated with the presence of silicon-silicon multiple bonds.     

Adjusting chemical bonding of hard amorphous CSixNy thin films by N*-plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition

Hard amorphous carbon silicon nitride thin films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of various carbon silicon nitride targets by using an additional nitrogen RF plasma source on [100] oriented silicon substrates at room temperature. The influence of the number of laser shots per target site on the growth rate and film surface morphology was studied. Up to about 30 at. % nitrogen and up to 20 at. % silicon were found in the films by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS of the films showed a clear correlation of binding energy to the variation of PLD parameters. The films show a universal hardness value up to 23 GPa (reference value for silicon substrate 14 GPa) in dependence on target composition and PLD parameters. The results emphasise the possibility of variation of chemical bonding and corresponding properties, such as nanohardness, of amorphous CSi_xN_y thin films by the plasma-assisted PLD process.     

衬底温度和硼掺杂对p型氢化微晶硅薄膜结构和电学特性的影响

以B₂H₆为掺杂剂,采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术在玻璃衬底上制备p型氢化微晶硅薄膜.研究了衬底温度和硼烷掺杂比对薄膜的微结构和暗电导率的影响.结果表明：在较高的衬底温度下很低的硼烷掺杂比即可导致薄膜非晶化;在实验范围内,随着衬底温度升高薄膜的晶化率单调下降,暗电导率先缓慢增加然后迅速下降,变化趋势与硼烷掺杂比的影响极为相似.最后着重讨论了p型氢化微晶硅薄膜的生长机理. 关键词： p型氢化微晶硅薄膜 衬底温度 晶化率 电导率     

Electron-phonon interaction in boron-doped silicon nanocrystals: Effect of Fano interference on the Raman spectrum

Raman spectroscopy is employed for studying silicon nanocrystal arrays in boron-doped amorphous silicon films. The nanocrystals were formed in the initial amorphous films by the pulsed impact of an excimer laser. The electron-phonon interaction effects are observed experimentally in the heterostructure formed by a silicon nanocrystal and an amorphous matrix. These effects can be described in the framework of the familiar Fano interference model.     

氢化非晶硅叠层薄膜对单晶硅表面钝化研究

采用等离子体增强化学气相沉积法生长的单层本征氢化非晶硅薄膜对单晶硅片进行钝化,结果表明增加氢稀释比有利于减少薄膜中的缺陷,增强钝化效果,过量的氢稀释比会导致非晶硅在硅片表面的外延晶化生长,降低钝化效果。退火导致非晶硅晶化程度增加,降低了钝化效果,同时退火提升了薄膜的质量,改变了H键合方式,增强了钝化效果。因此,单层氢化非晶硅只有在合适的氢稀释比和退火温度才可以获得最佳钝化效果。为了提高非晶硅薄膜对硅片的钝化效果,采用具有高低氢稀释比的叠层本征非晶硅薄膜对硅片进行钝化。因此将高氢稀释比沉积的非晶硅薄膜叠层生长于低氢稀释比的薄膜之上,避免非晶硅在硅片表面的外延生长。在退火过程中,高氢稀释比薄膜中的氢扩散到低氢稀释比薄膜中,有效地钝化了非晶硅中和单晶硅表面的悬挂键,改善了非晶硅/硅片的界面质量,叠层钝化后硅片的少子寿命为7.36 ms,隐含开路电压为732 mV。     

In-situ electrical measurement in ion implanted amorphous silicon films

Doping in amorphous silicon has been studied by P, B and Si implantation in evaporated silicon films made by electron beam evaporations. After double implantation of P and B, a compensation effect has been observed in implanted amorphous silicon layer.     

用SiCl4/H2气源沉积多晶硅薄膜光照稳定性的研究

对以SiH₄/H₂及SiCl₄/H₂为源气体、采用 等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术制备的非晶硅薄膜和多晶硅薄膜进行了光照稳定性的研究.实验表明，制备的多晶硅薄膜并没有出现 非晶硅中的光致衰减现象，其光电导、暗电导在光照过程中没有下降反而有所上升且电导率 变化快慢受氢稀释度的制约.多晶硅薄膜的光照稳定性可能来源于高的晶化度及Cl元素的存在. 关键词： 多晶硅薄膜 稳恒光电导效应 晶界 光致衰退效应     

相变域硅薄膜材料的光稳定性

采用RF-PECVD技术，通过改变反应气体的硅烷浓度制备了一系列不同晶化率不掺杂的硅薄膜材料，研究了工艺变化对材料结构的影响及材料光电特性同微结构的关系.随后进行了光衰退试验，在分析光照前后光电特性变化规律的基础上，认为材料中的非晶成分是导致材料光电特性衰退的主要原因.在靠近过渡区非晶一侧的硅材料比普通非晶硅稳定，衰退率较少；高晶化率微晶硅材料性能稳定，基本不存在光衰退；在靠近过渡区微晶一侧的硅材料虽然不是完全不衰退，但相比高晶化率硅材料来说更适合制备高效微晶硅电池. 关键词： 射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积 硅薄膜 Staebler-Wronski(SW)效应 稳定性     

非晶碳化硅材料与光学微腔的制备与发光

利用等离子体化学气相沉积技术在100℃的衬底温度下,制备了具有不同组分比的系列非晶碳化硅薄膜。结合傅里叶变换红外光谱与喇曼光谱对所制备的薄膜微结构进行了表征与分析,同时,对具有不同组分比的非晶碳化硅薄膜室温光致发光性质进行了系统的研究。结果表明在Ar⁺离子激光和Xe灯紫外光的激发下,不同组分的样品显示出不同的光致发光特性,并对样品的发光特性与其微结构的联系进行了讨论。在此基础上,用碳化硅薄膜设计和制备了全固体光学微腔,研究了微腔对碳化硅发光行为的调制作用。     

Influence of deposition temperature on amorphous structure of PECVD deposited a-Si:H thin films

The effect of deposition temperature on the structural and optical properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) from silane diluted with hydrogen was under study. The series of thin films deposited at the deposition temperatures of 50–200°C were inspected by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and UV Vis spectrophotometry. All samples were found to be amorphous with no presence of the crystalline phase. Ordered silicon hydride regions were proved by XRD. Raman measurement analysis substantiated the results received from XRD showing that with increasing deposition temperature silicon-silicon bond-angle fluctuation decreases. The optical characterization based on transmittance spectra in the visible region presented that the refractive index exhibits upward trend with increasing deposition temperature, which can be caused by the densification of the amorphous network. We found out that the scale factor of the Tauc plot increases with the deposition temperature. This behaviour can be attributed to the increasing ordering of silicon hydride regions. The Tauc band gap energy, the iso-absorption value their difference were not particularly influenced by the deposition temperature. Improvements of the microstructure of the Si amorphous network have been deduced from the analysis.     

Effect of hydrogen on surface texturing and crystallization of a-Si:H thin film irradiated by excimer laser

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films have been considered for use in solar cell applications because of their significantly reduced cost compared to crystalline bulk silicon. However, their overall efficiency and stability are lower than that of their bulk crystalline counterpart. Limited work has been performed on simultaneously solving the efficiency and stability issues of a-Si:H. Previous work has shown that surface texturing and crystallization on a-Si:H thin film can be achieved through a single-step laser processing, which can potentially alleviate the disadvantages of a-Si:H in solar cell applications. In this study, hydrogenated and dehydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films deposited on glass substrates were irradiated by KrF excimer laser pulses and the effect of hydrogen on surface morphologies and microstructures is discussed. Sharp spikes are focused only on hydrogenated films, and the large-grained and fine-grained regions caused by two crystallization processes are also induced by presence of hydrogen. Enhanced light absorptance is observed due to light trapping based on surface geometry changes of a-Si:H films, while the formation of a mixture of nanocrystalline silicon and original amorphous silicon after crystallization suggests that the overall material stability can potentially improve. The relationship between crystallinity, fluence and number of pulses is also investigated. Furthermore, a step-by-step crystallization process is introduced to prevent the hydrogen from diffusing out in order to reduce the defect density, and the relationship between residue hydrogen concentration, fluence and step width is discussed. Finally, the combined effects show that the single-step process of surface texturing and step-by-step crystallization induced by excimer laser processing are promising for a-Si:H thin-film solar cell applications.