Hydrogen sensors based on AlGaN/AIN/GaN Schottky diodes

Pt/AlGaN/AIN/GaN Schottky diodes are fabricated and characterized for hydrogen sensing. The Pt Schottky contact and the Ti/Al/Ni/Au ohmic contact are formed by evaporation. Both the forward and reverse currents of the device increase greatly when exposed to hydrogen gas. A shift of 0.3 V at 300K is obtained at a fixed forward current after switching from N-2 to 10%H-2+N-2. The sensor responses under different concentrations from 50ppm H-2 to 10%H-2+N-2 at 373K are investigated. Time dependences of the device forward current at 0.5 V forward bias in N-2 and air atmosphere at 300 and 373K are compared. Oxygen in air accelerates the desorption of the hydrogen and the recovery of the sensor. Finally, the decrease of the Schottky barrier height and sensitivity of the sensor are calculated.

Enhancement of conductivity and transmittance of ZnO films by post hydrogen plasma treatment

We studied the effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. It is found that the ZnO H film is highly transparent with the average transmittance of 92% in the visible range. Both carrier concentration and mobility are increased after hydrogen plasma treatment, correspondingly, the resistivity of the ZnO H films achieves the order of 10(-3) cm. We suggest that the incorporated hydrogen not only passivates most of the defects and/or acceptors present, but also introduces shallow donor states such as the V-O-H complex and the interstitial hydrogen H-i. Moreover, the annealing data indicate that H-i is unstable in ZnO, while the V-O-H complex remains stable on the whole at 400 degrees C, and the latter diffuses out when the annealing temperature increases to 500 degrees C. These results make ZnO H more attractive for future applications as transparent conducting electrodes.

Enhancement of field emission of the ZnO film by the reduced work function and the increased conductivity via hydrogen plasma treatment

The ZnO films deposited by magnetron sputtering were treated by H/O plasma. It is found that the field emission (FE) characteristics of the ZnO film are considerably improved after H-plasma treatment and slightly deteriorated after O-plasma treatment. The improvement of FE characteristics is attributed to the reduced work function and the increased conductivity of the ZnO H films. Conductive atomic force microscopy was employed to investigate the effect of the plasma treatment on the nanoscale conductivity of ZnO, these findings correlate well with the FE data and facilitate a clearer description of electron emission from the ZnO H films.

Impacts of hydrogen dilution on growth and optical properties of a-SiC : H films

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon (a-SiC:H) films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with a fixed methane to silane ratio ([CH4]/[SiH4]) of 1.2 and a wide range of hydrogen dilution (R-H=[H-2]/[SiH4 + CH4]) values of 12, 22, 33, 102 and 135. The impacts of RH on the structural and optical properties of the films were investigated by using UV-VIS transmission, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption, Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The effects of high temperature annealing on the films were also probed. It is found that with increasing hydrogen dilution, the optical band gap increases, and the PL peak blueshifts from similar to1.43 to 1.62 eV. In annealed state, the room temperature PL peak for the low R-H samples disappears, while the PL peak for the high R-H samples appears at similar to 2.08 eV, which is attributed to nanocrystalline Si particles confined by Si-C and Si-O bonds.

The compact microcrystalline Si thin film with structure uniformity in the growth direction by hydrogen dilution profile

The hydrogen dilution profiling (HDP) technique has been developed to improve the quality and the crystalline uniformity in the growth direction of mu c-Si:H thin films prepared by hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition. The high H dilution in the initial growth stage reduces the amorphous transition layer from 30-50 to less than 10 nm. The uniformity of crystalline content X-c in the growth direction was much improved by the proper design of hydrogen dilution profiling which effectively controls the nonuniform transition region of Xc from 300 to less than 30 nm. Furthermore, the HDP approach restrains the formation of microvoids in mu c-Si: H thin films with a high Xc and enhances the compactness of the film. As a result the stability of mu c-Si: H thin films by HDP against the oxygen diffusion, as well as the electrical property, is much improved. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Impact of hydrogen dilution on microstructure and optoelectronic properties of silicon films deposited using tirisilane

We explored the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) using trisilane (Si3H8) as a gas precursor in a radiofrequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process and studied the suitability of this material for photovoltaic applications. The impact of hydrogen dilution on the deposition rate and microstructure of the films is systematically examined. Materials deposited using trisilane are compared with that using disilane (Si2H6). It is found that when using Si3H8 as the gas precursor the deposition rate increases by a factor of similar to 1.5 for the same hydrogen dilution (R = [H-2]/[Si3H8] or [H-2]/[Si2H6])- Moreover, the structural transition from amorphous to nanocrystalline occurs at a higher hydrogen dilution level for Si3H8 and the transition is more gradual as compared with Si2H6 deposited films. Single-junction n-i-p a-Si: H solar cells were prepared with intrinsic layers deposited using Si3H8 or Si2H6. The dependence of open circuit voltage (V-oc) on hydrogen dilution was investigated. V-oc greater than 1 V can be obtained when the i-layers are deposited at a hydrogen dilution of 180 and 100 using Si3H8 and Si2H6, respectively.

High quality microcrystalline Si films by hydrogen dilution profile

Novel hydrogen dilution profiling (HDP) technique was developed to improve the uniformity in the growth direction of mu c-Si:H thin films prepared by hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD). It was found that the high H dilution ratio reduces the incubation layer from 30 nm to less than 10 nm. A proper design of hydrogen dilution profiling improves the uniformity of crystalline content, X-c, in the growth direction and restrains the formation of micro-voids as well. As a result the compactness of mu c-Si:H films with a high crystalline content is enhanced and the stability of mu c-Si:H thin film against the oxygen diffusion is much improved. Meanwhile the HDP mu c-Si:H films exhibit the low defect states. The high nucleation density from high hydrogen dilution at early stage is a critical parameter to improve the quality of mu c-Si:H films. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Strain accommodation of 3C-SiC grown on hydrogen-implanted Si (001) substrate

The hydrogen-implanted Si substrate has been used for the fabrication of the "compliant substrate", which can accommodate the mismatch strain during the heteroepitaxy. The compliance of the substrate can be modulated by the energy and dose of implanted hydrogen. In addition, the defects caused by implantation act as the gettering center for the internal gettering of the harmful metallic impurities. Compared with SiC films growth on substrate without implantation. all the measurements indicated that the mismatch strains in the SiC films grown on this substrate have been released and the crystalline qualities have been improved. It is a practical technique used for the compliant substrate fabrication and compatible with the semiconductor industry. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrogen related defects in neutron-irradiated silicon grown in hydrogen ambient

Isochronal thermal-annealing behavior of NTD floating-zone silicon grown in hydrogen ambient (called NTD FZ(H) Si) is presented. The dependencies of resistivity and carrier mobility on annealing temperature are determined by room-temperature Hall electrical measurements. Using infrared absorption spectroscopy, hydrogen-related infrared absorption bands evolution for NTD FZ(H) Si were measured in detail. It is demonstrated that compared with NTD FZ(Ar) Si, NTD FZ(H) Si exhibits the striking features upon isochronal annealing in temperature range of 150 similar to 650 degreesC: there appears the formation of an excessive shallow donor at annealing temperature of 500 degreesC. It is shown that the annealing behavior is directly related to the reaction of hydrogen and irradiation-induced defects. The evolution of infrared absorption bands upon temperature reflects a series of complex reaction process: irradiation-induced defects decomposition, breaking of Si-H bonds, migration and aggregation of atomic hydrogen, and formation of the secondary defects. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrogen passivation of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

The effects of hydrogen passivation on multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells are reported in this paper. Hydrogen plasma was generated by means of ac glow discharge in a hydrogen atmosphere. Hydrogen passivation was carried out with three different groups of mc-Si solar cells after finishing contacts. The experimental results demonstrated that the photovoltaic performances of the solar cell samples have been improved after hydrogen plasma treatment, with a relative increase in conversion efficiency up to 10.6%. A calculation modelling has been performed to interpret the experimental results using the model for analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures developed at Pennsylvania State University.

Atomic hydrogen induced step bunching and fabrication of quantum wire arrays on GaAs (311)A substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Atomic hydrogen assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a novel type of epitaxial growth of nanostructures. The GaAs (311)A surface naturally forms one-dimensional step arrays by step bunching along the direction of (-233) and the space period is around 40nm. The step arrays extend over several mum without displacement. The InGaAs quantum wire arrays are grown on the step arrays as the basis. Our results may prompt further development of more uniform quantum wire and quantum dot arrays.

Effect of rapid thermal annealing and hydrogen plasma treatment on the microstructure and light-emission of silicon-rich oxide film

Silicon-rich silicon oxide (SRSO) films are prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method at the substrate temperature of 200degreesC. The effect of rapid thermal annealing and hydrogen plasma treatment on tire microstructure and light-emission of SRSO films are investigated in detail using micro-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. It is found that the phase-separation degree of the films decreases with increasing annealing temperature from 300 to 600degreesC, while it increases with increasing annealing temperature from 600 to 900degreesC. The light-emission of the films are enhanced with increasing annealing temperature up to 500degreesC, while it is rapidly reduced when the annealing temperature exceeds 600degreesC. The peak position of the PL spectrum blueshifts by annealing at the temperature of 300degreesC, then it red-shifts with further raising annealing temperature. The following hydrogen plasma treatment results in a disproportionate increase of the PL intensity and a blueshift or redshift of the peak positions, depending on the pristine annealing temperature. It is thought that the size of amorphous silicon clusters, surface structure of the clusters and the distribution of hydrogen in the films can be changed during the annealing procedure. The results indicate that not only cluster size but also surface state of the clusters plays an important role in the determination of electronic structure of the amorphous silicon cluster and recombination process of light-generated carriers.

Hydrogen behavior in GaN epilayers grown by NH3-MBE

Hydrogen behavior in unintentionally doped GaN epilayers on sapphire substrates grown by NH3-MBE is investigated. Firstly, we find by using nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) that with increasing hydrogen concentration the background electron concentration increases, which suggests that there exists a hydrogen-related donor in undoped GaN, Secondly, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveal Further that hydrogen atom is bound to nitrogen atom in GaN with a local vibrational mode at about 3211 cm(-1) Hence, it is presumed that the hydrogen-related complex Ga. . .H-N is a hydrogen-related donor candidate partly responsible for high n-type background commonly observed in GaN films. Finally, Raman spectroscopy results of the epilayers show that ill addition to the expected compressive biaxial strain, in some cases GaN films suffer from serious tensile biaxial strain. This anomalous behavior has been well interpreted in terms of interstitial hydrogen lattice dilation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermodynamic model of hydrogen-induced silicon surface layer cleavage

A thermodynamic model of hydrogen-induced silicon surface layer splitting with the help of a bonded silicon wafer is proposed in this article. Wafer splitting is the result of lateral growth of hydrogen blisters in the entire hydrogen-implanted region during annealing. The blister growth rate depends on the effective activation energies of both hydrogen complex dissociation and hydrogen diffusion. The hydrogen blister radius was studied as a function of annealing time, annealing temperature, and implantation dose. The critical radius was obtained according to the Griffith energy condition. The time required for wafer splitting at the cut temperature was calculated in accordance with the growth of hydrogen blisters. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Purification of single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized by the catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons

A procedure for purifying single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) synthesized by the catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons has been developed. Based on the results from SEM observations, EDS analysis and Raman measurements, it was found that amorphous carbon, catalyst particles, vapor-grown carbon nanofibers and multi-walled carbon nanotubes were removed from the ropes of SWNTs without damaging the SWNT bundles, and a 40% yield of the SWNTs with a purity of about 95% was achieved after purification. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.