用正电子湮没技术研究a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H多层膜中的界面缺陷

本文报道应用正电子湮没技术(PAT)对a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H(x≈0.5)多层膜系列样品所进行的研究。发现,由于a-Si:H和a-SiN_x:H在结构方面的失配,导致在a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H多层膜中的界面区,产生大量缺陷。在a-Si:H子层中,紧靠界面的是应变层,厚度约为8?;在应变层之后是过渡层,厚度约为50?。在过渡层中存在大量缺陷,这就是所谓界面缺陷。 关键词：     

Effects of hydrogen plasma annealing on the luminescence from a-Si:H/SiO2 and nc-Si/SiO2 multilayers

Effects of post-hydrogen plasma annealing (HPA) on a-Si:H/SiO₂ and nc-Si/SiO₂ multilayers have been investigated and compared. It is found that photoluminescence (PL) from hydrogen-passivated samples was improved due to the reduction of non-radiative recombination defects. Some interesting difference is that during HPA, atomic hydrogen can directly passivate defects of a-Si:H/SiO₂, which results in the reappearance of luminescence band at 760 nm, while for nc-Si/SiO₂, hydrogen passivation requires additional thermal annealing after nc-Si/SiO₂ multilayer was treated by HPA. It is indicated that higher atomic mobility is needed to passivate defects at nc-Si/SiO₂ interface compared with a-Si:H/SiO₂ interface.     

a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H超晶格中空间电势分布和光电导的理论计算

本文从a-Si:H体材料的缺陷态模型出发,考虑在a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H超晶格中由于空间电荷转移掺杂效应,以及界面不对称引起的a-Si:H阱层的能带下降和弯曲,严格求解空间电势分布和电荷分布,发现a-Si:H阱层中能带的下降值远大于由界面电荷不对称所引起的两端电势能差,且随转移到阱层中的电荷总量的变化非常敏感。空间电荷分布比较平缓,当不对称参数K=0.9时,空间电荷浓度的最大差值不到两倍。在此基础上,计算了超晶格中光电导的温度曲线,发现引起超晶格中暗电导和光电导相对于单层膜增大的主要原因是转移电荷量的多少,而界面电荷不对称的影响则小得多。计算中对带尾态采用Simmons-Taylor理论,考虑a-Si:H中悬挂键的相关性,并用巨正则分布讨论其在复合过程中的行为。 关键词：     

Elastic properties of semiconductor a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H quasiperiodic and periodic superlattices

Surface Rayleigh acoustic waves and related elastic properties of quasiperiodic and periodic modulated a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H superlattices have been studied by means of a light-scattering technique. Changes in the phase velocity of the surface Rayleigh acoustic waves as a function of sublayer (a-Si:H) thickness are interpreted using an effective medium model. Despite the existence of structural mismatch in the bond-length and coordination number and of structural disorder in the bond-angle for Si-N and Si-Si, no appreciable discrepancy between the measured results and the theoretical predictions has been found.     

EPR investigation of a-Si:H aerosol particles formed under silane thermal decomposition

The dangling bond defects were investigated in a-Si:H particles formed under silane thermal decomposition in flow reactor. EPR together with hydrogen evolution method were used. The experimental results allowed us to conclude that there are two kinds of dangling bond defects in a-Si:H aerosol particles. The defects of the first kind are localized on the surface of interconnected microvoids and microchannels (surface dangling bonds) and those of the second kind are embedded in amorphous silicon network (volume dangling bonds). The thermal equilibration of dangling bonds and temperature dependence of equilibrium dangling bond concentration were investigated. It was found that at temperatures > 400 K the dangling bond concentrationNApplied Magnetic Resonance _s reversibly depends on sample temperature. The volume dangling bond concentration increases with temperature increasing (the effective activation energy of dangling bond formationU > 0), and the surface dangling bond concentration decreases with temperature increasing (U < 0). It has been found that EPR line is considerably asymmetric for samples with high hydrogen content and for low hydrogen content the EPR line is weakly asymmetric. A conclusion was drawn that the asymmetry degree depends on amorphous silicon lattice distortions. This conclusion has been confirmed by EPR spectra simulations.     

Properties of a-Si:N:H films beneficial for silicon solar cells applications

Amorphous silicon-nitride thin films a-Si:N:H were obtained by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) method from SiH₄+NH₃ at 13.56 MHz. The process parameters were chosen to obtain the films of properties suitable for optoelectronic and mechanical applications. FTIR analysis of a-Si:N:H films indicated the presence of numerous hydrogen bonds (Si-H and N-H) which passivate structural defects in multicrystalline silicon and react with impurities. The morpho-logical investigations show that the films are homogeneous. The deposition of a-Si:N:H layers leads to the decrease in friction coefficient of used substrates. Optical properties were optimised to obtain the films of low effective reflectivity, large energy gap E_g from 2.4 to 2.9 eV and refractive index in the range of 1.9 to 2.2. Reduction of friction coefficient for monocrystalline silicon after covering with a-Si:N:H films was observed: from 0.25 to 0.18 for 500 cycles.     

Reflectivity modeling of Si-based amorphous superlattices

The structural properties of superlattices composed by hydrogenated amorphous silicon/silicon carbide (a-Si:H/a- Si_1 − xC_x:H) and silicon/germanium (a-Si:H/a-Ge:H), deposited by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique, were analyzed by means of small-angle X-ray diffraction. The relevant structural parameters, such as the multilayer period, the individual layer thickness, the width of the interface and the optical constants, were determined by modeling the experimental reflectivity. The model was based on the dynamical diffraction theory, including material mixing at the interface, interface roughness and random variation of component thickness. In addition, the effect of the direct beam and background on the measured intensities were considered.     

Thermal annealing of a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H multilayers

The crystallinity of Si/SiN_x multilayers annealed by a rapid thermal process and furnace annealing is investigated by a Raman-scattering technique and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the crystallization temperature varies from 900 °C to 1000 °C when the thickness of a-Si:H decreases from 4.0 nm to 2.0 nm. Raman measurements imply that the high crystallization temperature for the a-Si:H sublayers originates from the confinement modulated by the interfaces between a-Si:H and a-SiN_x:H. In addition to the annealing temperature, the thermal process also plays an important role in crystallization of a-Si sublayers. The a-Si:H sublayers thinner than 4.0 nm can not be crystallized by furnace annealing for 30 min, even when the annealing temperature is as high as 1000 °C. In contrast, rapid thermal annealing is advantageous for nucleation and crystallization. The origin of process-dependent crystallization in constrained a-Si:H is briefly discussed. Received: 11 April 2001 / Accepted: 20 June 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

a-Si:H/a-SiCx:H超晶格的界面特性

报道等离子体化学汽相沉积法制备的ａ－Ｓｉ：Ｈ／ａ－ＳｉＣ：Ｈ超晶格的蓝移现象，用小角度Ｘ射线衍射确定超晶格的界面陡度。通过红外测量和常数光电流测量发现，超晶格界面附近存在较高浓度的Ｈ和较多的Ｓｉ－Ｃ键，界面Ｈ的热稳定性较差，界面缺陷态密度为１．２×１０^１１ｃｍ^-2。 关键词：     

B掺杂a-SiC:H/本征a-Si:H异质结中的B扩散

本文用 ¹¹B(p,a)⁸ Be(E_{r=163keV)核反应分析方法,研究不同生长温度和退火温度对a-SiC:H(B)/a-Si:H异质结构中B原子浓度剖面分布的影响,由B原子浓度剖面分布的变化,分别估算了B在a-Si:H生长和退火过程中的扩散系数,结合电导率随膜厚度变化的测量,并依据最新提出的热平衡缺陷观点,对B的扩散过程作了分析。 关键词：}     

Light emission from a-Si:C:O:H films fabricated by C2F6 and O2/C2F6 plasma treating silicone oil liquid

Amorphous Si:C:O:H films were fabricated at low temperature by C₂F₆ and O₂/C₂F₆ plasma treating silicone oil liquid. The a-Si:C:O:H films fabricated by C₂F₆ plasma treatment exhibited white photoluminescence at room temperature, while that by O₂/C₂F₆ plasma treatment exhibited blue photoluminescence. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy studies showed that the sp³ and sp² hybridized carbons, SiC bond, SiO bond and carbon-related defects in a-Si:C:O:H films correlated with photoluminescence. It is suggested that the blue emission at 469 nm was related to the sp³ and sp² hybridized carbons, SiC bond, carbon dangling bonds as well as SiO short chains and small clusters, while the light emitting at 554 nm was related to the carbon-related defects.     

Superstrate p-i-n a-Si:H solar cells on textured ZnO:Al front transparent conduction oxide

Superstrate p-i-n amorphous silicon thin-film (a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on SnO₂:F and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) in order to see the effect of TCO/p-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage V_oc than cells prepared on SnO₂:F. The presence of a thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer (μc-Si:H) between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing an improvement in the fill factor as well as in V_oc of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of the p-i interface, we could obtain a high V_oc of 994 mV while keeping the fill factor (72.7%) and short circuit current density J_sc at the same level as for the cells on SnO₂:F TCO. This high V_oc value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.     

On interface properties of ultra-thin and very-thin oxide/a-Si:H structures prepared by oxygen based plasmas and chemical oxidation

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) belongs still to most promising types of semiconductors for its utilization in fabrication of TFTs and thin film solar cell technology due to corresponding cheap a-Si:H-based device production in comparison with, e.g. crystalline silicon (c-Si) technologies. The contribution deals with both two important modes of preparation of very-thin and ultra-thin silicon dioxide films in the surface region of a-Si:H semiconductor (oxygen plasma sources and liquid chemical methods) and electrical, optical and structural properties of produced oxide/semiconductor structures, respectively. Dominant aim is focused on investigation of oxide/semiconductor interface properties and their comparison and evaluation from view of utilization of used technological modes in the nanotechnological industry. Following three basic types of oxygen plasma sources were used for the first time in our laboratories for treatments of surfaces of a-Si:H substrates: (i) inductively coupled plasma in connection with its applying at plasma anodic oxidation; (ii) rf plasma as the source of positive oxygen ions for plasma immersion ion implantation process; (iii) dielectric barrier discharge ignited at high pressures.The liquid chemical manner of formation SiO₂/a-Si:H structures uses 68 wt% nitric acid aqueous solutions (i.e., azeotropic mixture with water). Their application in crystalline Si technologies has been presented with excellent results in the formation of ultra-thin SiO₂/c-Si structures [H. Kobayashi, M. Asuha, H.I. Takahashi, J. Appl. Phys. 94 (2003) 7328].Passivation of surface and interface states by liquid cyanide treatment is additional original technique applied after (or before) formation of almost all formed thin film/a-Si:H structures. Passivation process should be used if high-quality electronical parameters of devices can be reached.     

a-Si:H和a-SiNx:H薄膜中的缺陷以及载流子的非辐射复合

应用红外光谱仪、分光光度计、光声谱仪和正电子湮没寿命谱仪,从不同的角度,研究a-Si:H和a-SiN_x:H薄膜中的成分、缺陷以及光生载流子的非辐射复合。 关键词：     

A thin-film transistor with a very thin a-Si:H layer and its application for an LC panel

One of the disadvantages of applying an a-Si:H thin-film transistor (TFT) to an active matrix-addressed liquid crystal (LC) panel is that a TFT with an a-Si:H has a very large photo-leakage current because of the high photo-conductivity of an a-Si:H itself.We have tried decreasing the photo-leakage current by varying the thickness of an a-Si:H layer (L) in TFTs and investigated the characteristics of TFTs, mainly drain voltage versus drain current containing photo-leakage current (I _ph).As a result, it is shown that lnI _ph is proportional to InL, and its gradient is 1.5–2.0. We assume that the thinner an a-Si:H layer is, the more effective the recombination of carriers at the interface states is forI _ph.We have applied TFT with a very thin a-Si:H layer (30nm) to a full-color active matrix-addressed LC panel for a moving picture display and realized a display of good quality under illuminated condition of 5×10⁴lx without a shading layer in it.     

Interface density of neutral dangling bonds in a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H superlattices

We report a determination of the density of singly-occupied dangling bonds at the a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H interface obtained from ESR measurements of superlattice structures. The surprisingly low result of 1.3 × 10¹⁰ cm^?2 calls for a reexamination of previous transport and optical measurements. The ESR data do not preclude a high interface density of charged dangling bonds.     

Understanding of a-Si:H(p)/c-Si(n) heterojunction solar cell through analysis of cells with point-contacted p/n junction

We fabricated point-contacted a-Si:H(p)/c-Si(n) heterojunction solar cells using patterned SiO₂ and investigated their electrical properties using the light current–voltage (I–V) curve and Suns-V_oc measurements. The light I–V curves showed bias-dependent changes according to the applied voltage in the point-contacted cells, especially in the samples with a long distance between the point-contacted junctions. The Suns-V_oc measurements showed that the bias-dependence of the light I–V curves did not originate from the recombination in the SiO₂/Si or a-Si:H(p)/c-Si(n) interface, but from the series resistances. It is possible to explain the bias-dependent light I–V curve in terms of the conductivity of a-Si:H(p) and difference in the electrical contact properties between a-Si:H(p), ZnO and c-Si(n). These results mean that the electrical properties of the a-Si:H(p) layer and the contact properties with this layer are also critical to obtain a high J_sc and fill factor in n-type based Si heterojunction solar cells.     

非晶态异质结构a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H和a-Si:H,a-SiNx:H薄膜的应力研究

实验发现在一定Si—H键浓度下,相对于平坦的硅衬底而言,在其上沉积的a-Si:H薄膜具有压缩应力,a-SiN_x:H薄膜具有伸张应力。当a-Si:H和a-SiN_x:H层厚度比近似于1:2时,硅衬底上生长的a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H/c-Si样品,弯曲最小,并能保持很长时间。文中还给出了应力随退火变化的情况,并对实验结果进行了讨论。 关键词：     

Effect of charged deep states in hydrogenated amorphous silicon on the behavior of iron oxides nanoparticles deposited on its surface

Langmuir-Blodgett technique has been used for the deposition of ordered two-dimensional arrays of iron oxides (Fe₃O₄/Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles onto the photovoltaic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film. Electric field at the a-Si:H/iron oxides nanoparticles interface was directly in the electrochemical cell modified by light soaking and bias voltage (negative or positive) pretreatment resulting in the change of the dominant type of charged deep states in the a-Si:H layer. Induced reversible changes in the nanoparticle redox behavior have been observed. We suggest two possible explanations of the data obtained, both of them are needed to describe measured electrochemical signals. The first one consists in the electrocatalytical effect caused by the defect states (negatively or positively charged) in the a-Si:H layer. The second one consists in the possibility to manipulate the nanoparticle cores in the prepared structure immersed in aqueous solution via the laser irradiation under specific bias voltage. In this case, the nanoparticle cores are assumed to be covered with surface clusters of heterovalent complexes created onto the surface regions with prevailing ferrous or ferric valency. Immersed in the high viscosity surrounding composed of the wet organic nanoparticle envelope these cores are able to perform a field-assisted pivotal motion. The local electric field induced by the deep states in the a-Si:H layer stabilizes their “orientation ordering” in an energetically favourable position.