INTERFACIAL FORMATION PROCESS AND REACTIONS BETWEEN AU AND HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS SI STUDIED BY XPS AND AES

Interfacial formation processes and reactions between Au and hydrogenated amorphous Si have been studied by photoemission spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. A three-dimensional growth of Au metal cluster occurs at initial formation of the Au/a-Si:H interface. When Au deposition exceeds a critical time, Au and Si begin interdiffusing and react to create an Au-Si alloy region. Annealing enhances interdiffusion and a Si-rich region exists on the topmost surface of Au films on a-Si:H.

METASTABLE DEFECT IN AMORPHOUS-SILICON SOLAR-CELLS INVESTIGATED BY JUNCTION RECOVERY TECHNIQUE

The effect of metastable defects caused by light soaking and carrier injection on the transport of carriers in undoped a-Si:H has been investigated by a junction recovery technique. The experiments show that after light soaking or carrier injection the product of mu-p-tau-p decreases, but no detectable change in the distribution of shallow valence band tail states was found.

PHOTOEMISSION-STUDY OF THE INTERFACIAL FORMATION PROCESS AND REACTIONS BETWEEN AL AND HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS SI

Using photoemission spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy, the interfacial formation process and the reactions between Al and hydrogenated amorphous Si are probed, and annealing behaviors of the Al/a-Si:H system are investigated as well. It is found that a three-dimensional growth of Al metal clusters which includes reacted Al and non-reacted metal Al occurs at the initial Al deposition time, reacted Al and Si alloyed layers exist in the Al/a-Si:H interface, and non-reacted Al makes layer-by-layer growth forming a metal Al layer on the sample surface. The interfacial reactions and element interdiffusion of Al/a-Si:H are promoted under the vacuum annealing.

Strong visible photoluminescence from amorphous silicon grains in a-SiOx:H films

Two strong luminescence bands were observed from a-SiOx:H in the spectral range of 550-900 nm at room temperature. One is a main broad peak which blueshifts with oxygen content and the other is a shoulder fixed at about 835 nm. In conjunction with TR and micro-Raman spectra, we have proposed that the main band may originate from the amorphous silicon grains embedded in SiOx network, while the shoulder might be due to some defects induced by excess-silicon in these films. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Improvement of the stability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films by intermittent illumination treatment at elevated temperature

The intermittent illumination treatment by white light at elevated temperature is proved to be a convenient and efficient method for the improvement of the stability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films. The effect of the treatment on electrical properties, light-induced degradation, and gap states of undoped a-Si:H films has been investigated in detail. With the increase of cycling number, the dark- as well as photo-conductivities in annealed state and light-soaked state approach each other, presenting an unique irreversible effect. The stabilization and ordering processes by the present treatment can not be achieved merely by annealing under the same conditions. It is shown that the treatment proposed here results in a shift to higher values of the energy barriers between defects and their precursors, and hence an improved stability of a-Si:H films. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

PHOTOLUMINESCENCE SPECTRUM STUDY OF THE GAAS/SI EPILAYER GROWN BY USING A THIN AMORPHOUS SI FILM AS BUFFER LAYER

Recently, we reported successful growth of high-quality GaAs/Si epilayers by using a very thin amorphous Si film as buffer layer. In this paper, the impurity properties of this kind of GaAs/Si epilayers have been studied by using PL spectrum, SIMS and Hall measurement. Compared to a typical PL spectrum of the GaAs/Si epilayers grown by conventional two-step method, a new peak was observed in our PL spectrum at the energy of 1.462 eV, which is assigned to the band-to-silicon acceptor recombination. The SIMS analysis indicates that the silicon concentration in this kind of GaAs/Si epilayers is about 10(18) cm(-3). But its carrier concentration (about 4 x 10(17) cm(-3)) is lower than the silicon concentration. The lower carrier concentration in this kind of GaAs/Si epilayer can be interpreted both as the result of higher compensation and as the result of the formation of the donor-defect complex. We also found that the high-quality and low-Si-concentration GaAs/Si epilayers can be regrown by using this kind of GaAs/Si epilayer as substrate. The FWHM of the X-ray (004) rocking curve from this regrowth GaAs epilayer is 118 '', it is much less than that of the first growth GaAs epilayer (160 '') and other reports for the GaAs/Si epilayer grown by using conventional two-step method (similar to 200 '').

Influence of zinc phthalocyanines on photoelectrical properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Composites consisting of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H, inorganic) and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc, organic) were prepared by vacuum evaporation of ZnPc and sequential deposition amorphous silicon via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The optical and electrical properties of the composite film have been investigated. The results demonstrate that ZnPc can endure the temperature and bombardment of the PECVD plasma and photoconductivity of the composite film was improved by 89.9% compared to pure a-Si: H film. Electron mobility-lifetime products μτ of the composite film were increased by nearly one order of magnitude from 6.96 × 10~(-7) to 5.08 × 10~(-6) cm~2/V. Combined with photoconductivity spectra of the composites and pure a-Si: H, we tentatively elucidate the improvement in photoconductivity of the composite film.

1.55μm Fabry-Perot Thermo-Optical Tunable Filter with amorphous-Si as Cavity

A 1.55μm Fabry-Perot (F-P) thermo-optical tunable filter is fabricated. The cavity is made of amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer grown by electron-beam evaporation technique. Due to the excellent thermo-optical property of a-Si, the refractive index of the F-P cavity will be changed by heating; the transmittance resonant peak will therefore shift substantially. The measured tuning range is 12nm, FWHM (full-width-at-half-maximum) of the transmission peak is 9nm, and heating efficiency is 0.1K/mW. The large FWHM is mainly due to the non-ideal coating deposition and mirror undulation. Possible improvements to increase the efficiency of heating are suggested.

Microstructure of the silicon film prepared near the phase transition regime from amorphous to nanocrystalline

A kind of hydrogenated diphasic silicon films has been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) near the phase transition regime from amorphous to nanocrystalline. The microstructural properties of the films have been investigated by the micro-Raman and Fourier transformed Infrared (FT-IR) spectra and atom force microscopy (AFM). The obtained Raman spectra show not only the existence of nanoscaled crystallites, but also a notable improvement in the medium-range order of the diphasic films. For the FT-IR spectra of this kind of films, it notes that there is a blueshift in the Si-H stretching mode and a redshift in the Si-H wagging mode in respect to that of typical amorphous silicon film. We discussed the reasons responsible for these phenomena by means of the phase transition, which lead to the formation of a diatomic hydrogen complex, H-2* and their congeries.