Thermomechanical properties of amorphous hydrogenated carbon–germanium alloys

Thermomechanical properties of amorphous hydrogenated carbon-germanium alloys prepared by the rf sputtering technique were determined for films in the 0 at. % to 100 at. % carbon content range. The stress, thermal expansion coefficient, and elastic modulus were obtained using the thermally induced bending technique. The stress was related to the concentration of hydrogen and argon, to the difference in the Ge-Ge and Ge-C bond length, and to the carbon hybridization. The thermal expansion coefficients of pure amorphous germanium and amorphous carbon are higher than that of their corresponding crystalline counterparts, which was attributed to the compressive stress of the films. The biaxial modulus, on the other hand, are always smaller than that of their crystalline counterparts, but increases as the concentration of carbon increases due to the substitution of Ge-Ge bonds by energetically stronger Ge-C and C-C bonds. Received: 9 May 2000 / Accepted: 10 May 2000 / Published online: 13 July 2000     

Study on stability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon （a-Si：H） films with high and same order of magnitude photosensitivity （-10^5） but different stability were prepared by using microwave electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapour deposition system under the different deposition conditions. It was proposed that there was no direct correlation between the photosensitivity and the hydrogen content （CH） as well as H-Si bonding configurations, but for the stability, they were the critical factors. The experimental results indicated that higher substrate temperature, hydrogen dilution ratio and lower deposition rate played an important role in improving the microstructure of a-Si：H films. We used hydrogen elimination model to explain our experimental results.     

XPS study of the chemical bonding in hydrogenated amorphous germanium–carbon alloys

A systematic study of the chemical bonding in hydrogenated amorphous germanium–carbon (a-Ge_1-xC_x:H)alloys using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is presented. The films, with carbon content ranging from 0 at. % to 100 at. %, were prepared by the rf co-sputtering technique. Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the carbon hybridization. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and XPS were used to determine the film stoichiometry. The Ge 3d and C 1s core levels were used for investigating the bonding properties of germanium and carbon atoms, respectively. The relative concentrations of C–Ge, C–C, and C–H bonds were calculated using the intensities of the chemically shifted C 1s components. It was observed that the carbon atoms enter the germanium network with different hybridization, which depends on the carbon concentration. For concentrations lower than 20 at. %, the carbon atoms are preferentially sp³ hybridized, and approximately randomly distributed. As the carbon content increases the concentration of sp² sites also increases and the films are more graphitic-like. Received: 4 May 1999 / Accepted: 24 November 1999 / Published online: 24 March 2000     

Role of amorphous silicon domains of Er^3＋ emission in the Er—doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide film

An investigation on the correlation between amorphous Si (a-Si) domains and Er^{3+} emission in the Er-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide (a-Si:O:H) film is presented. On one hand, a-Si domains provide sufficient carriers for Er^{3+} carrier-mediated excitation which has been proved to be the highest excitation path for Er^{3+} ion; on the other hand, hydrogen diffusion from a-Si domains to amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO_x) matrix during annealing has been found and this possibly decreases the number of nonradiative centres around Er^{3+} ions. This study provides a better understanding of the role of a-Si domains on Er^{3+} emission in a-Si:O:H films.     

Influence of the deposition parameters on the transition region of hydrogenated silicon films growth

Hydrogenated microcrystalline and amorphous silicon thin films were prepared by very high frequency plasmaenhanced chemical vapour deposition （VHF PECVD） by using a mixture of silane and hydrogen as source gas. The influence of deposition parameters on the transition region of hydrogenated silicon films growth was investigated by varying the silane concentration （SC）, plasma power （Pw）, working pressure （P）, and substrate temperature （Ts）. Results suggest that SC and Ts are the most critical factors that affect the film structure transition from microcrystalline to amorphous phase. A narrow region in the range of SC and Ts, in which the rapid phase transition takes place, was identified. It was found that at lower P or higher Pw, the transition region is shifted to larger SC. In addition, the dark conductivity and photoconductivity decrease with SC and show sharp changes in the transition region. It proposed that the transition process and the transition region are determined by the competition between the etching effect of atomic hydrogen and the growth of amorphous phase.     

Photoelectron spectroscopic characterization of titanium-containing amorphous hydrogenated silicon–carbon films (aSi1-xCx:H/Ti)

Titanium-containing amorphous hydrogenated silicon–carbon films (aSi_1-xC_x:H/Ti) have been deposited by reactive magnetron cosputtering. Core-level photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and valence-band photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) have served as means for the characterization of these films. The spectroscopic data are interpreted by a structural model on the basis of a nanocomposite containing clusters of a Ti-C-Si alloy being embedded in an amorphous hydrogenated silicon–carbon matrix (aSi_1-xC_x:H). The Ti-C-Si compound is of metallic character and most likely a substitutional solid solution. This novel nanocomposite material is a promising candidate for applications, especially as optical selective absorber coating for solar collectors. Received: 10 July 2000 / Accepted: 15 September 2000 / Published online: 21 March 2001     

Preferential etching of Si–Si bond in the microcrystalline silicon germanium

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon germanium (μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H) films were investigated as a bottom cell absorber in multi-junction solar cells. μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H films were prepared using very high frequency (VHF, 60 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) systems working pressure of about 1.5 Torr. The precursor flow rates were carefully controlled to determine the phase transition point and to improve the crystallinity of μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H. A relatively high plasma power was necessary to have the high hydrogen (H₂) dilution. Raman spectroscopy study showed transition steps from amorphous to microstructure morphology as hydrogen dilution increasing. Crystallite Si–Ge and Ge–Ge bonds were occurred at relatively higher H₂ dilution compare to crystallite Si–Si bond. The rapidly increased Ge content as increasing the H₂ dilution is believed mainly due to the different decomposition rate of silane (SiH₄) and germane (GeH₄). The other reason of high Ge content even at the low GeH₄ precursor flow rate is probably due to the preferential etching of silicon atom by H₂. The preferential etching of Si–H possibly occurred in very highly concentrated H₂ plasma due to the preferential attachment of Si–H. The compositions of μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H films measured using RBS were Si_0.83Ge_0.17, Si_0.67Ge_0.33 and Si_0.59Ge_0.41 at H₂/SiH₄ flow rate of 60, 80 and 100, respectively. μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H films showed the dark (σ_d) and photo conductivity (σ_p) of about 10^?7 and 10^?5 S/cm, respectively and photo response (σ_p/σ_d) was about 10². This study will present the comprehensive evaluation of crystallization behavior of μc-Si_1?xGe_x:H films.     

Investigation of muon states in silicon and germanium by field-quenching and RFμSR

The temperature dependence of the three states of positive muons in the semiconductors with diamond structure ( ⁺ in diamagnetic states ^d and paramagnetic muonium Mu and Mu^*) have been investigated on six Si (pure, B and P doped) and four Ge (ultrapure, CZ-grown undoped, Ga and Sb doped) single crystals by longitudinal field-quenching and radio-frequency ⁺SR. Clear evidence for the transition Mu^{* d} is found. The influence of light-induced charge-carriers is shown to be quite different in p- and n-type material.The work has been supported by the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie in Bonn, Germany, under contract no. 03-SE3STU.     

Measurement of cluster–cluster interaction in liquids by deposition and AFM of silicon clusters onto HOPG surfaces

Experimental studies have been performed on unisize tungsten clusters constructed on a graphite surface by means of the scanning tunneling microscopy. It was found that the geometry of the clusters changes instantaneously from a monatomic-layer tungsten disk to a diatomic-layer structure between the cluster size of 10 and 11. We concluded that this transition is driven by a change in the dominant interaction from the attractive electrostatic interaction between the cluster and the surface to intracluster cohesive metallic interaction.     

Formation and characterization of porous silicon–samarium/gadolinium nanocomposites: effect of substrate oxidation and biosynthesis process

Samarium and gadolinium nanoparticles synthesized by bioreduction process have been incorporated into nanostructured porous silicon template to form a nanocomposite. The structural and optical properties of PS–Gd and PS–Sm nanocomposites have been studied through TEM, SEM and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Extent of infiltration has been verified through reflectance interference Fourier transform spectroscopy as a function of substrate oxidation conditions. The substrates oxidized at 600 °C showed the maximum infiltration and the corresponding change of optical thickness due to nanoparticles. Such biodegradable nanocomposites in the form of particles can have potential applications in localized drug delivery and enhancement of the image contrast and optoelectronic devices. The results here reported open an energy-cheap procedure to take advantages of small rare earth nanoparticles and produced nanocomposites with their immersion in SiO₂ substrates, with the perspective to be replied in other similar substrates under controlled conditions.     

Precipitation of γ′ phase and helium bubbles during proton and α-particle irradiation of nickel–silicon

Segregation of silicon was induced by light-ion irradiation at elevated temperatures in Ni–8Si specimens. Its occurrence at external surfaces, helium-induced cavities, dislocation loops, coherent twin boundaries, grain boundaries, and precipitate-matrix interfaces has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Layers of ordered γ^′ (Ni₃Si) phase were formed at most of these point defect sinks. The behaviour of grain boundary precipitation was found to be exceptional in various respects. In particular, a high rate of precipitation distinguishes grain boundaries from all other kinds of point defect sinks investigated here. This phenomenon of rapid precipitation was found to be adjoined to precipitation-driven grain boundary migration and is attributed to a radiation-induced “discontinuous” precipitate reaction. Observations of helium bubble distributions created during α-particle irradiations at growing dislocation loops and at migrating grain boundaries are also briefly discussed.     

Calculation of shuffle 60° dislocation width and Peierls barrier and stress for semiconductors silicon and germanium

The dislocation width for shuffle 60° dislocation in semiconductors Si and Ge have been calculated by the improved P-N theory in which the discrete effect has been taken into account. Peierls barrier and stress have been evaluated with considering the contribution of strain energy. The discrete effect make dislocation width wider, and Peierls barrier and stress lower. The dislocation width of 60° dislocation in Si and Ge is respectively about 3.84 Å and 4.00 Å (～1b, b is the Burgers vector). In the case of 60° dislocation, after considering the contribution of strain energy, Peierls barrier and stress are increased. The Peierls barrier for 60° dislocation in Si and Ge is respectively about 15 meV/Å and 12–14 meV/Å, Peierls stress is about 3.8 meV/ų (0.6 GPa) and 2.7–3.3 meV/ų (0.4–0.5 GPa). The Peierls stress for Si agrees well with the numerical results and the critical stress at 0 K extrapolated from experimental data. Ge behaves similarly to Si.     

Microstructure evolution and passivation quality of hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide(a-SiOx:H) on〈100〉- and 〈111〉-orientated c-Si wafers

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide(a-SiOx:H) is an attractive passivation material to suppress epitaxial growth and reduce the parasitic absorption loss in silicon heterojunction(SHJ) solar cells. In this paper, a-SiOx:H layers on different orientated c-Si substrates are fabricated. An optimal effective lifetime(τ(eff)) of 4743 μs and corresponding implied opencircuit voltage(iV(oc)) of 724 mV are obtained on〈100〉-orientated c-Si wafers. While τ(eff) of 2429 μs and iV_oc of 699 mV are achieved on 111-orientated substrate. The FTIR and XPS results indicate that the a-SiOx:H network consists of SiOx(Si-rich), Si–OH, Si–O–SiHx, SiO2 ≡ Si–Si, and O3 ≡ Si–Si. A passivation evolution mechanism is proposed to explain the different passivation results on different c-Si wafers. By modulating the a-SiOx:H layer, the planar silicon heterojunction solar cell can achieve an efficiency of 18.15%.     

Generation of far-infrared radiation by hot holes in germanium and silicon inE ⊥H fields

The experimental results obtained by the investigation of stimulated FIR emission from dopedp-type germanium andp-type silicon by hot holes in crossedE andH fields at = 10 and 80 K are reported. The analysis of the emission intensity fromp-type germanium as a function ofE andH fields permits us to draw a conclusion about the important role of quantization of the energy spectrum of light holes and the contribution of light hole transitions with n = 2 to the amplification of FIR radiation. A new region of generation is demonstrated inp-type germanium under uniaxial stress. The first experimental results on stimulated FIR emission fromp-type silicon are reported.     

Interactions between laser and arc plasma during laser–arc hybrid welding of magnesium alloy

This paper presents the results of the investigation on the interactions between laser and arc plasma during laser–arc hybrid welding on magnesium alloy AZ31B using the spectral diagnose technique. By comparably analyzing the variation in plasma information (the shape, the electron temperature and density) of single tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding with the laser–arc hybrid welding, it is found that the laser affects the arc plasma through the keyhole forming on the workpiece. Depending on the welding parameters there are three kinds of interactions taking place between laser and arc plasma.     

UV–visible spectral characterization and density functional theory simulation analysis on laser-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films

The effect of laser energy density on the crystallization of hydrogenated intrinsic amorphous silicon （a-Si：H） thin films was studied both theoretically and experimentally. The thin films were irritated by a frequency-doubled （λ= 532 nm） Nd：YAG pulsed nanosecond laser. An effective density functional theory model was built to reveal the variation of bandgap energy influenced by thermal stress after laser irradiation. Experimental results establish correlation between the thermal stress and the shift of transverse optical peak in Raman spectroscopy and suggest that the relatively greater shift of the transverse optical （TO） peak can produce higher stress. The highest crystalline fraction （84.5%） is obtained in the optimized laser energy density （1000 mJ/cm2） with a considerable stress release. The absorption edge energy measured by the UV- visible spectra is in fairly good agreement with the bandgap energy in the density functional theory （DFT） simulation.     

Formation of absorbing heterogeneous plasma layer by femtosecond laser-induced melting and ablation of silicon

The experimental study of absorption in silicon in infrared and visible spectral ranges, where the photon energy is less or more than the bandgap width, is performed by means of the ultrafast interferometry technique. The exactly solvable model in the electromagnetic of heterogeneous lossy plasma layer was developed. The density of carriers, their frequency of collisions, absorbing depth of the probing waves, real and imaginary parts of dielectric function of nonuniform layer and their spatial gradients are determined from the reflectance data by means of this model subject to the pump fluence. The heterogeneity-induced effects are visualized due to comparison of obtained plasma parameters with those calculated in the framework of homogeneous plasma model It is shown that in the intensity range near thresholds of melting and ablation the absorption, occurring in both cases mainly within a thin (∼10 nm) absorbing layer (similarly to metals), is due to free carrier intraband absorption.     

Fabrication and characteristics of ta-C biomaterial coatings on Ti–6Al–4V using metal plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition

We have formed amorphous diamond (ta-C) coatings on Ti–6Al–4V substrates using a metal plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (MEPIIID) technique, and characterized the mechanical properties and biological compatibility of the coating material. The hemocompatibility of the coating compared favorably with that of low temperature isotropic (LTI) carbon, with kinetic clotting time and hemolysis rate approximately the same as for LTI carbon, and platelet consumption about twice that of the latter. The mechanical properties were good, with a microhardness greater than that of the uncoated metal substrates, and high adhesion of >0.75 GPa (interface shear stress) as estimated from a thermal quench method. Glancing-angle X-ray diffraction measurements indicated the presence of a TiC transition layer, suggesting the formation of a Ti/TiC/ta-C multilayer structure, leading in turn to good film–substrate adhesion. We conclude that this kind of amorphous diamond coating could provide benefit as a biocompatible hard coating for Ti–6Al–4V substrate material.