Thickness Evolution of the Microstructure of Si:H Films in the Amorphous-to-Microcrystalline Phase Transition Region

R. W. Collins, G. M. Ferreira, A. S. Ferlauto, R. J. Koval, J. M. Pearce, C. R. Wronski, M. M. Al-Jassim, K. M. Jones

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

1 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) has been applied to develop deposition phase diagrams that describe the thickness evolution of the phase of hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) thin films. Such diagrams can be applied to establish optimization principles for the intrinsic (i-) layers incorporated into high performance solar cells based on amorphous Si:H (a-Si:H). The phase diagrams for the growth of Si:H on a-Si:H film substrates incorporate two transitions versus accumulated thickness, the first from the amorphous to the mixed-phase (amorphous + microcrystalline) growth regime [the a→(a+μc) transition] and the second from the mixed-phase to single-phase microcrystalline growth regime [the (a+μc)→μc transition]. Methods have been developed to extract the evolution of the volume fraction of microcrystalline Si:H (μc-Si:H) within the mixed-phase growth regime. Similar deposition phase diagrams have also been developed to optimize p-type Si:H layers for a-Si:H-based n-i-p and p-i-n cells.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages2767-2772
Number of pages6
StatePublished - 2003
Event3rd World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-3): Joint Conference of 13th PV Science and Engineering Conference, 30th IEEE PV Specialists Conference, and 18th European PV Solar Energy Conference - Osaka, Japan
Duration: 11 May 200318 May 2003

Conference

Conference3rd World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-3): Joint Conference of 13th PV Science and Engineering Conference, 30th IEEE PV Specialists Conference, and 18th European PV Solar Energy Conference
CityOsaka, Japan
Period11/05/0318/05/03

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-520-36516

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