Non-linear optical diagnostic of a-Si:H thin films deposited by RF-glow discharge

We have evidenced the high sensitivity of infra red-induced second harmonic generation (IR-ISHG) to the structural changes that occurred in amorphous hydrogenated silicon films (a-Si:H) prepared by Rf-glow discharge technique at different substrate temperatures and doping types. In every case, a maximal signal of the IR-induced SHG is achieved at a temperature of about 110 K and pump–probe delaying time about 22–38 ps. This one indicates a marked effect of doped subsystems in the observed non-linear optical effects. A tremendous effect of doping is established from a drastic change of the IR-induced SHG behavior presenting an anomaly at about 400 MW/cm² for a pumping power with wavelength 3.7 μm. A minimum of the SHG is observed in that case for standard non-doped films. Note here that the doping type does not markedly affect the behavior of the second-order non-linear optical susceptibility. The thermo-annealing leads to a slight decrease of the effective second-order susceptibilities. More drastic changes are observed with doped samples for the pump-probe delaying time from about 39 till 24 ps.     

非晶Si1-x Gex:H薄膜太阳能电池研究

运用AMPS- ID程序研究了a-SiC:H/a-Si1-rGer:H/a-Si:H薄膜太阳能电池的光电特性.分析了a-SiC:H/a-Si1-xGes:H/a-Si:H薄膜太阳能电池短路电流、断路电压、填充因子和光电转化效率随Ge成分(或含量)x和a-Si1-sGes:H层厚度的变化.计算结果表明x=0.1和a-Si1-xGex:H厚度h=340 nm时,转化效率达到最大值 9.19％.另外,讨论了各种因素对太阳能电池性能的影响.     

非晶Si1-xGex:H薄膜太阳能电池研究

The AMPS-ID program is used to investigate electrical and optical properties of the thin film solar cell of a-SiC:H/a-Si1-xGex:H/a-Si:H. The short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of the solar cell are investigated. The efficiency of the solar cell is 9.19% as thickness of a-Si1-xGex:H is 340 nm with Ge content x=0.1. In addition, we also discuss the factors which affect solar cell efficiency.     

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.     

a-Si:H薄膜及MWECR-CVD制备技术

文章回顾了a—Si：H薄膜的发展历程，并介绍了其近10年的研究状况、为提高a—Si：H薄膜的沉积速度，还重点介绍了一种新的微波电子回旋共振等离子体CVD(MWECR—CVD)技术，该技术的特点是：不含电极，可避免电极溅射造成的污染；等离子区离子密度高，对硅烷能高度分解，从而可显著提高薄膜生长速率；改变磁场位形和结构，可改变等离子体分布及轰击基片离子的能量，文章还分析了其制备a—Si：H薄膜存在的问题，提出了今后的研究方向。     

Light induced microstructure transformation in a-Si：H films

A series of a-Si:H films are deposited by hot wire assisted microwave electron cyclotron resonant chemical vapour deposition (HW-MWECR-CVD), subsequently exposed under simulated illumination for three hours. This paper studies the microstructure change during illumination by Fourier Transformation Infrared (FTIR) spectra. There are two typical transformation tendencies of microstructure after illumination. It proposes a model of light induced structural change based on the experimental results. It is found that all samples follow the same mechanism during illumination, and intrinsic structure of samples affect the total H content.     

Diffusion and trapping in ZnS:Mn electroluminescent thin films

This paper reports the analysis of a time resolved study concerning both diffusion and trapping in ZnS:Mn TFEL, as a function of the dopant concentration. In particular we show that, above 1%, the excitations most likely diffuse among manganese ions lying on fractal spaces before reaching a trapping center.     

Pulsed laser deposition of photosensitive a-Si thin films

Si films have been fabricated by pulsed KrF excimer laser deposition (PLD) through the use of various Si targets and deposition conditions. The deposits consisted of droplets and homogeneous films, which were assigned to be crystalline and amorphous silicon, respectively, by the micro Raman scattering measurements. Not only the crystalline but also the amorphous Si part scarcely (<1 atomic %) contained hydrogen regardless of whether or not the films are prepared in the presence of H₂ gas. Conditions were explored to reduce the droplet formation and to produce photosensitive films. Amorphous Si films with photosensitivity (C_ph/C_d) exceeding 10³ were obtained, and they exhibited high stability against light soaking. Thus, PLD is a promising method to fabricate photosensitive and photostable a-Si films.     

Photon energy dependence of SW effect in a-Si:H films

In order to explore the creation process of Staebler-Wronski (SW) defect in a-Si: H films. We investigated the effect of monochromatic light exposure with different photon energies: 2.54, 1.96, 1.17 and 0.95 eV. The experimental results show that threshold energy for SW defect creation is around 1.17 eV.     

Disorder and optical characterization of evaporation deposited a-Si: H films

Summary We have found, from optical transmission and photoconductivity measurements, that the width of the Urbach's tail and the optical-band gap value depend on the amount of disorder present in the network ofa-Si: H films. The nature of the disorder, being it thermal or structural, affects in the same way the behaviour of the absorption coefficient and supports the hypothesis that the value of the optical-band gap depends only indirectly on the overall hydrogen content. Work partially supported by CNR ?Progetto Finalizzato Energetica? and by the Energy Committee of Sicilian Region.     

Photoinduced grating formation in azo-dye-labeled phospholipid thin films by 244-nm light

Holographic gratings are recorded in azo-dye nitrobenzoxazole-labeled phospholipid thin films by use of 244-nm UV light. The gratings continue to grow for more than 1 h, even after the recording light is removed. The diffraction efficiency of these gratings shows extreme sensitivity to humidity and can increase reversibly by 2 orders of magnitude in air that is saturated with water vapor. This effect is related to the unique characteristics of phospholipid molecules that undergo hydration-dependent structural reorganization and self-assembly.     

Laser induced mixing and microstructures in GeAl thin multilayer films

A study of the laser mixing of four-layered thin films of Ge/Al has been made. We combine Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to perform depth profile and microstructure analysis. The results show that the mixing is interfacially initiated and that the surface layer (Ge) and the layer at the film-substrate interface (Al) remain partially unmixed. The degree of mixing does not depend critically on the as-grown layer configuration but does depend on the nature of the substrate. The mixing process is well simulated in the frame of the classical diffusion theory and the estimated average temperatures are close to that of the eutectic. The mixed layer is found to be amorphous and the calculated cooling rates are in the 10⁹ Ks^–1 range.     

稳定、优质nc-Si/a-Si:H薄膜的研制和特性分析

利用等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术研制出了优质稳定的氢化非晶-纳米晶两相结构硅薄膜.薄膜的光电导率相对于器件质量的非晶硅有两个数量级的提高；光敏性也较好，光、暗电导比可以达到１０⁴，此外薄膜的光电导谱具有更宽的长波光谱响应.更为重要 的是薄膜的光致退化效应远小于典型的非晶硅薄膜，在光强为５０ｍW／ｃｍ²的卤钨灯光 照２４h后，光电导的衰退小于１０％.这种薄膜优良的光电性能源于薄膜中的非晶母体的存在使其在 光学跃迁中的动量选择定则发生松弛，因而具有大的光学吸收系数和 关键词： 非晶硅 微结构 光致变化     

XPS investigation of a-Si : H thin films after light soaking

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon thin films prepared by homogeneous chemical vapour deposition have been studied. The Si2p, O1s and C1s electron spectra have been recorded after different light soaking times using repeated 100 mW/cm² white light illumination and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The change of the position and intensity of the Si2p peak has been observed after light soaking and is explained by the transformation of the Si–H bonds. The correlation between the micropore density in a-Si : H film and the binding energy of Si2p electrons is demonstrated.     

Lambertian light trapping in thin crystalline macroporous Si layers

Lambertian light trapping is a benchmark for efficient light trapping. In this Letter we experimentally quantify the degree of Lambertian light trapping in a macroporous silicon layer. The optical absorption of the effective (26.7 ± 5.5) µm thick sample with randomly arranged pores yields a photogeneration corresponding to a maximum current density of (40.8 ± 0.4) mA cm^–2 and thus achieves a fraction of 0.985 ± 0.012 of the current density expected from a Lambertian light trapping scheme. The measured spectrum of the escape reflectance is well described with an analytic model assuming a complete randomization of the directions of light propagation. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

High rate primary ion beam deposition of a-Si:H films

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films have been prepared by primary ion beam deposition with a new electrodeless rf ion source. The design of the ion source is described. The composition of the a-Si:H films has been determined by Rutherford backscattering, and the photoconductivity by the constant photocurrent method (CPM). The best a-Si:H films show photoconductivities of 5×10^–5 ( cm)^–1. The deposition rates were between 0.7 and 1.2 nm s^–1.