scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

Amorphous silicon

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


Papers
More filters
Patent
29 Oct 1992
TL;DR: In this paper, the pulsed energy processing of amorphous silicon (a-Si) on a low-temperature plastic substrate using a short pulsed high energy source in a selected environment, without heat propagation and build-up in the substrate.
Abstract: A method or process of crystallizing and doping amorphous silicon (a-Si) on a low-temperature plastic substrate using a short pulsed high energy source in a selected environment, without heat propagation and build-up in the substrate. The pulsed energy processing of the a-Si in a selected environment, such as BF3 and PF5, will form a doped micro-crystalline or poly-crystalline silicon (pc-Si) region or junction point with improved mobilities, lifetimes and drift and diffusion lengths and with reduced resistivity. The advantage of this method or process is that it provides for high energy materials processing on low cost, low temperature, transparent plastic substrates. Using pulsed laser processing a high (>900° C.), localized processing temperature can be achieved in thin films, with little accompanying temperature rise in the substrate, since substrate temperatures do not exceed 180° C. for more than a few microseconds. This method enables use of plastics incapable of withstanding sustained processing temperatures (higher than 180° C.) but which are much lower cost, have high tolerance to ultraviolet light, have high strength and good transparency, compared to higher temperature plastics such as polyimide.

79 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that surface recombination does not take place at the c-Si(p)∕a-Si:H(i) interface, but more likely in the defect-rich PECVD a-Si-H(p+) material, by tunneling of minority carriers through the thin aSi(H) layer.
Abstract: Heterostructures, such as the crystalline silicon (c-Si)/plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) structure, form a possibility in the development of a low recombination rear contact for photovoltaic devices fabricated from p-type c-Si(p) substrates. To find a good compromise between limited charge carrier recombination at the surface and a limited resistivity of the contact, a sandwich structure, such as c-Si(p)∕a-Si:H(i)∕a-Si:H(p+) has been proposed in the past. However, in this letter, we report that whereas a very thin intrinsic a-Si:H layer (∼3nm) may still yield very low values for the surface recombination velocity of low resistivity (0.5–1.5Ωcm) c-Si(p) wafers, the surface passivation properties are lost when this intrinsic film is subsequently covered by a PECVD a-Si:H(p+) layer. This phenomenon suggests that surface recombination does not take place at the c-Si(p)∕a-Si:H(i) interface, but more likely in the defect-rich PECVD a-Si:H(p+) material, by tunneling of minority carriers through the thin a-Si:H(i) layer.

79 citations

Patent
30 May 1997
TL;DR: In this article, the Schottky diodes are formed in the transitional region between the amorphous intrinsic semiconductor material (6) and the selection lines (Ki), where the diode the anode and cathode are conductively connected to the x and y-selection lines.
Abstract: The invention relates to an erasable non-volatile memory in which a diode is formed at each point of intersection between the x-selection lines (Ki) and y-selection lines (Rj), of which diode the anode and cathode are conductively connected to the x- and y-selection lines. The diodes are formed in hydrogenated amorphous silicon or silicon compounds such as amorphous Si−xGex. Writing takes place by means of a current pulse through selected diodes. The current in the forward direction becomes much lower, for example a few hundred times lower, than in diodes which are not selected, probably owing to degradation in the semiconductor material. The diodes may be returned to their original state again (i.e. be erased) through heating, for example at a temperature of 200° C. during 100 minutes. Preferably, the diodes are formed by Schottky diodes because the characteristic in the reverse direction does not (substantially) change in this type of diode. The Schottky diodes may be formed in the transitional region between the amorphous intrinsic semiconductor material (6) and the selection lines (Ki).

79 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the conditions necessary for obtaining a low defect density material at high growth rates are discussed in terms of the gas phase reactive species and their surface reactions, and the problems that occur when attempting to increase the growth rate are discussed from the viewpoint of plasma chemistry and its effect on surface reactions.
Abstract: Gas phase and surface reaction processes in the radio frequency plasma enhanced decomposition of silane for the preparation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are discussed. The conditions necessary for obtaining a low defect density material is discussed in terms of the gas phase reactive species and their surface reactions. The problems that occur when attempting to increase the growth rate are discussed from the viewpoint of plasma chemistry and its effect on surface reactions. Thereby, the conditions necessary for obtaining low defect density material at high growth rates are identified.

79 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Thin film
275.5K papers, 4.5M citations
94% related
Silicon
196K papers, 3M citations
93% related
Band gap
86.8K papers, 2.2M citations
93% related
Amorphous solid
117K papers, 2.2M citations
89% related
Dielectric
169.7K papers, 2.7M citations
86% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023118
2022214
2021245
2020422
2019526
2018571