Amorphous silicon

About: Amorphous silicon is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26777 publications have been published within this topic receiving 423234 citations.

Plasma deposited thin films

Abstract: This book presents a discussion of the mechanisms and practice of plasma deposition with particular emphasis on significant materials produced by this technique, and their applications Materials discussed include hydrogenated amorphous silicon and its alloys, amorphous carbon, and the critically important insulators such as silicon nitride, carbide, and oxide In addition, a review is given, with extensive references, of many other potentially useful materials A major theme of this book is the interrelationship between the process, the authors' understanding of the properties of materials, together with device fabrication and ultimate performance Over 150 figures complement the text

Deposition of device quality, low H content amorphous silicon

Abstract: Device‐quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon containing as little as 1/10 the bonded H observed in device‐quality glow discharge films have been deposited by thermal decomposition of silane on a heated filament. These low H content films show an Urbach edge width of 50 mV and a spin density of ∼1/100 as large as that of glow discharge films containing comparable amounts of H. High substrate temperatures, deposition in a high flux of atomic H, and lack of energetic particle bombardment are suggested as reasons for this behavior.

Light trapping in solar cells: can periodic beat random?

Abstract: Theory predicts that periodic photonic nanostructures should outperform their random counterparts in trapping light in solar cells. However, the current certified world-record conversion efficiency for amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells, which strongly rely on light trapping, was achieved on the random pyramidal morphology of transparent zinc oxide electrodes. Based on insights from waveguide theory, we develop tailored periodic arrays of nanocavities on glass fabricated by nanosphere lithography, which enable a cell with a remarkable short-circuit current density of 17.1 mA/cm(2) and a high initial efficiency of 10.9%. A direct comparison with a cell deposited on the random pyramidal morphology of state-of-the-art zinc oxide electrodes, replicated onto glass using nanoimprint lithography, demonstrates unambiguously that periodic structures rival random textures.

Bias‐stress‐induced stretched‐exponential time dependence of charge injection and trapping in amorphous thin‐film transistors

Abstract: The threshold voltage instabilities in nitride/oxide dual gate dielectric hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) thin‐film transistors are investigated as a function of stress time, stress temperature, and stress bias. The obtained results are explained with a multiple trapping model rather than weak bond breaking model. In our model, the injected carriers from the a‐Si:H channel first thermalize in a broad distribution of localized band‐tail states located at the a‐Si:H/aSiNx:H interface and in the a‐SiNx:H transitional layer close to the interface, then move to deeper energies in amorphous silicon nitride at longer stress times, larger stress electric fields, or higher stress temperatures. The obtained bias‐stress‐temperature induced threshold voltage shifts are accurately modeled with a stretched‐exponential stress time dependence where the stretched‐exponent β cannot be related to the β=TST/T0 but rather to β≂TST/T0*−β0 for TST≤80 °C; for TST≥80 °C, the β is stress temperature independent. We have al...

The physics of amorphous-silicon thin-film transistors

Abstract: The basic physics underlying the operation and key performance issues of amorphous-silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) are discussed. The static transistor characteristics are determined by the localized electronic states that occur in the bandgap of the amorphous silicon. The deep states, mostly consisting of Si dangling bonds, determine the threshold voltage, and the conduction band-tail states determine the field-effect mobility. The finite capture and emission times of the deep localized states lead to a dynamic transistor characteristic that can be described by a time-dependent threshold voltage. The transistors also show longer time threshold voltage shifts due to two other distinct mechanisms: charge trapping in the silicon nitride gate insulator and metastable dangling bond state creation in the amorphous silicon. These two mechanisms show characteristically different bias, temperature, and time dependencies of the threshold voltage shift. Illumination of a TFT causes the generation of electron-hole pairs in the space-charge region leading to a steady-state equal flux of electrons and holes and a reduction in the band-bending. In most applications, the photosensitivity should be minimized. The uniformity of large arrays of transistors for display applications is excellent, with variations in the threshold voltage of 0.5-1.0 V. >