Surface passivation of crystalline silicon by sputter deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon

This letter shows that intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering can provide outstanding passivation of crystalline silicon surfaces, similar to that achieved by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). By using a 2% hydrogen and 98% argon gas mixture as the plasma source, 1.5 Ω cm n‐type FZ silicon wafers coated with sputtered a‐Si:H films achieved an effective lifetime of 3.5 ms, comparable to the 3 ms achieved by PECVD (RF and microwave dual‐mode). This is despite the fact that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements show that sputtering and PECVD deposited films have very different chemical bonding configurations. We have found that film thickness and deposition temperature have a significant impact on the passivation results. Self‐annealing and hydrogen plasma treatment during deposition are likely driving forces for the observed changes in surface passivation. These experimental results open the way for the application of sputtered a‐Si:H to silicon heterojunction solar cells. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Porous silicon bandgap broadening at natural oxidation

Emission and excitation photoluminescence spectra of porous silicon thin layers have been investigated at natural oxidation. The shift of both types of spectra to high-energy region with time has been shown. Analysis of excitation spectra points out the indirect behavior of electron transitions responsible for visible photoluminescence, which remains unaltered at natural oxidation. The value of optical bandgap is estimated in each case. It is shown that the optical bandgap broadens during oxidation due to size reduction of silicon nanocrystallites.     

Mechanism of silicon epitaxy on porous silicon layers

The mechanism of silicon epitaxy on porous Si(111) layers is investigated by the Monte Carlo method. The Gilmer model of adatom diffusion extended to the case of arbitrary surface morphology is used. Vacancies and pendants of atoms are allowed in the generalized model, the activation energy of a diffusion hop depends on the state of the neighboring positions in the first and second coordination spheres, and neighbors located outside the growing elementary layer are also taken into account. It is shown that in this model epitaxy occurs by the formation of metastable nucleation centers at the edges of pores, followed by growth of the nucleation centers along the perimeter and the formation of a thin, continuous pendant layer. Three-dimensional images of surface layers at different stages of epitaxy were obtained. The dependence of the kinetics of the epitaxy process on the amount of deposited silicon is determined for different substrate porosities. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 7, 512–517 (10 April 1998)     

Simulation of a spectral inhomogeneous broadening

The standard approach that is used to simulate effects of inhomogeneous spectral broadening in a medium consisting of two- or multilevel systems is to calculate the microscopic polarization (the dipole moment of an individual system) as a function of the frequency detuning and further to average this quantity over detunings with corresponding weights. This just leads to the macroscopic polarization that appears in Maxwell’s equations of electrodynamics of continuous media. Here, we study and develop an alternative method that has been recently proposed by N.V. Vysotina, N.N. Rozanov, and V.E. Semenov (Opt. Spectrosc. 106 (5), 713 (2009)) for calculation of the macroscopic polarization and that has been aimed at solving problems of computational quantum optics. In this approach, the frequency detuning is considered as a stochastic function of coordinates; in one-dimensional problems, of longitudinal coordinate z. At each step of evolution, the microscopic polarization is calculated for a randomly chosen fixed value of the detuning. Therefore, calculating the macroscopic polarization does not need an additional averaging over detunings; it is replaced by averaging over spatial coordinates, which is naturally performed when describing the radiation propagation through an ensemble of quantum systems. This radically reduces the amount of computations, especially in the context of the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method.     

New studies of the Si-SiO2 interface using auger sputter profiling

We have made new measurements of the morphology and chemistry of “state of the art” thermally grown Si-SiO₂ interfaces using Auger sputter profiling. With improved experimental technique and theoretical treatment of electron escape depth and ion knock-on effects, we find the width of the interface to be about 2.0 nm. This width is probably due to an undulating interface, the period of which is less than 100 μm. Any SiO_x present resides in a connective layer no greater than 0.8 nm thick at any point.     

Auger electron spectroscopy investigation of sputter induced altered layers in SiC by low energy sputter depth profiling and factor analysis

The thickness of the altered layer created by ion bombardment of the 6H–SiC single crystal was determined by means of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiling in conjunction with factor analysis. After pre-bombardment of the surface by argon ions with energies 1, 2 and 4 keV until the steady state, the depth profiles of the induced altered layers were recorded by sputtering with low energy argon ions of 300 eV. Since the position and shape of the carbon Auger peak depend on the perfection of the crystalline structure, they were used for depth profile evaluation by factor analysis. In this way the depth profiles of the damaged surface region could be estimated in dependence on the ion energy. As a result, the thickness of the altered layer of SiC bombarded with 1, 2 and 4 keV Ar ions using an incident angle of 80° as well as the corresponding argon implantation profile could be measured.     

Development of dislocation-free ion-doped silicon layers

Possible suppression of the formation of residual extended defects in boron-implanted silicon is studied using a method that combines the effects of a threshold dose and annihilation of point defects on substitutional impurities. Implantation conditions are determined under which dislocation-free ion-doped silicon layers are formed.     

Ablation of silicon suboxide thin layers

We investigate the ablation of SiO _x thin films on fused silica substrates using single-pulse exposures at 193 nm and 248 nm. Two ablation modes are considered: front side (the surface of a film is irradiated from above) and rear side (a film is irradiated through its supporting substrate). Fluence is varied from below 200 mJ/cm² to above 3 J/cm². SiO _x films of thickness 200 nm, 400 nm, and 600 nm are ablated. In the case of rear-side illumination, at moderate fluences (around 0.5 mJ/cm²) the ablation depth corresponds roughly to the film thickness, above 1 J/cm² part of the substrate is ablated as well. In the case of front-side ablation the single-pulse ablation depth is limited for all film thicknesses to less than 200 nm even at fluences up to 4 J/cm². Experimental results are discussed in relation to film thickness, fluence, and ablation mode. Simple numerical calculations are performed to clarify the influence of heat transport on the ablation process.     

Spectral broadening enhancement in silicon waveguides through pulse shaping

Spectral broadening in silicon waveguides is usually inhibited at telecom wavelengths due to some adverse effects related to semiconductor dynamics, namely, two-photon and free-carrier absorption (FCA). In this Letter, our numerical simulations show that it is possible to achieve a significant enhancement in spectral broadening when we properly preshape the input pulse to reduce the impact of FCA on spectral broadening. Our analysis suggests that the use of input pulses with the correct skewness and power level is crucial for this achievement.     

Dynamic broadening of the crystal-fluid interface of colloidal hard spheres

We investigate the structure and dynamics of the crystal-fluid interface of colloidal hard spheres in real space by confocal microscopy. Tuning the buoyancy of the particles allows us to study the interface close to and away from equilibrium. We find that the interface broadens from 8-9 particle diameters close to equilibrium to 15 particle diameters away from equilibrium. Furthermore, the interfacial velocity, i.e., the velocity by which the interface moves upwards, increases significantly. The increasing gravitational drive leads to supersaturation of the fluid above the crystal surface. This dramatically affects crystal nucleation and growth, resulting in the observed dynamic broadening of the crystal-fluid interface.     

Analysis of interface layers by spectroscopic ellipsometry

We investigate the relative validity of the Bruggeman effective-medium approximation and several alloy models to describe interfaces in the analysis of spectroscopic ellipsometric data of laminar samples, using data obtained on an Al_xGa_1−xAs multilayer sample fabricated specifically for this purpose. The investigation highlights the types of errors that result from the use of inappropriate models. Optimum results are obtained with the alloy model where the graded-composition regions are approximated with multilayer stacks.     

Screening and level broadening in inversion layers with random fixed charges

The effects of potential fluctuations caused by randomly spaced fixed charges near a semiconductor—insulator interface on the density of states and the screening constant in an inversion layer are considered in a self-consistent, low-temperature, linear, long-wavelength, static screening approximation. The magnitude of the band broadening effects is calculated in this approximation for n-type inversion layers in Si. At low carrier concentrations, the screening constant and the density of states go to zero smoothly and at high carrier concentrations they approach the values expected for an ideal two-dimensional system.     

Collisional broadening and shifting of saturated absorption resonances in silicon tetrafluoride

The broadening and shifting of 12 saturated absorption resonances of the SiF₄ gas induced by molecular collisions have been measured in the lasing region of a low-frequency CO₂ laser at the P(30) line of the 9.4-μm band. Values of the collisional broadening are identical accurate to the measurement uncertainty. The collisional shift does not exceed 10% of the collisional broadening. This means that collisions with changes in the internal energy of molecules prevail over dephasing collisions.     

Hall effect measurements on silicon inversion layers

Hall mobility measurements have been made in the region of activated conductivity. The results are inconsistent with the mechanism being activation to a mobility edge, but agree with a new model of correlation-dominated transport, developed by Adkins.     

Thermal redistribution of indium in amorphous silicon layers

A new impurity redistribution mechanism is reported for low temperature annealing (525°C) of (100) Si samples implanted with high indium doses. The redistribution is a strong function of implant dose and is believed to be stress related.     

Electron-excited luminescence of SiO2 layers on silicon

An analysis of cathodoluminescence and electroluminescence spectra of Si-SiO₂ structures suggests a conclusion concerning the processes involved in excitation of the luminescence centers generated in the UV spectral region and their localization. The electroluminescence observed in this region of the spectrum is generated in excitation of luminescence centers localized in the immediate vicinity of the Si-SiO₂ phase boundary. In the case of cathodoluminescence, the observed emission bands at ??4.3 and ??2.7 eV appear in excitation of the luminescence of silylene centers at the Si-SiO₂ phase boundary.     

Heteroepitaxy of erbium-doped silicon layers on sapphire substrates

The possibility of using sublimation molecular-beam epitaxy as an efficient method for growing erbium-doped silicon layers on sapphire substrates for optoelectronic applications is analyzed. The advantage of this method is that the erbium-doped silicon layers can be grown at relatively low temperatures. The use of sublimation molecular-beam epitaxy makes it possible to grow silicon layers of good crystal quality. It is demonstrated that the growth temperature affects not only the structure of silicon-on-sapphire layers but also the crystallographic orientation of these layers. The electrical and luminescence properties of the erbium-doped silicon layers are discussed. It is revealed that structures of this type exhibit intense erbium photoluminescence at a wavelength of 1.54 μm.     

Mobility of charge carriers in porous silicon layers

The (conduction) mobility of majority charge carriers in porous silicon layers of the n and p types is estimated by joint measurements of electrical conductivity and free charge carrier concentration, which is determined from IR absorption spectra. Adsorption of donor and acceptor molecules leading to a change in local electric fields in the structure is used to identify the processes controlling the mobility in porous silicon. It is found that adsorption of acceptor and donor molecules at porous silicon of the p and n types, respectively, leads to a strong increase in electrical conductivity, which is associated with an increase in the concentration of free carrier as well as in their mobility. The increase in the mobility of charge carriers as a result of adsorption indicates the key role of potential barriers at the boundaries of silicon nanocrystals and may be due to a decrease in the barrier height as a result of adsorption.