Device-quality polycrystalline and amorphous silicon films by hot-wire chemical vapour deposition

Abstract We describe how high-quality intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H), as well as purely intrinsic single-phase hydrogenated polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si: H), can be obtained by hot-wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD). The deposition parameter space for these different thin-film materials has been optimized in the same hot-wire deposition chamber. A review of the earlier work shows how such high-quality films at both ends of the amorphous-crystalline scale have evolved. We incorporated both the amorphous and the polycrystalline silicon films in n-i-p solar cells and thin-film transistors (TFTs). The solar cells, with efficiencies in excess of 3%, confirm the material quality of both the a-Si: H and the poly-Si: H i-layer materials, but more work is needed to improve the interfaces with the doped layers. The TFTs made with a-Si: H and poly-Si: H channels show quite similar characteristics, such as a field-effect mobility of 0·5cm2 V−1 s−1, indicating that the channel region has a...

[1]  P. Brogueira,et al.  Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon films deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition at filament temperatures between 1500 and 1900 °C , 1996 .

[2]  R. Dusane,et al.  Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films produced at low temperature by the hot wire deposition method , 1993 .

[3]  A. Madan,et al.  A new modular multichamber plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system , 1993 .

[4]  E. Molenbroek,et al.  Film quality in relation to deposition conditions of a‐SI:H films deposited by the ‘‘hot wire’’ method using highly diluted silane , 1996 .

[5]  M. Schubert,et al.  Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon by hot wire chemical vapor deposition , 1996 .

[6]  K. Feenstra,et al.  Purely Intrinsic Poly-Silicon Films by Hot Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition , 1996 .

[7]  J. Andreu,et al.  Polycrystalline silicon films obtained by hot-wire chemical vapour deposition , 1994 .

[8]  Myron Strongin,et al.  a‐Si : H produced by high‐temperature thermal decomposition of silane , 1979 .

[9]  F. Kessler,et al.  Deposition of a-Si:H with the hot-wire technique , 1993 .

[10]  Alan Gallagher,et al.  Production of high-quality amorphous silicon films by evaporative silane surface decomposition , 1988 .

[11]  B. Schröder,et al.  Deposition of device quality a-Si:H films with the hot-wire technique , 1993 .

[12]  Hideki Matsumura,et al.  Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition (CTC–CVD) Method Producing High Quality Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon , 1986 .

[13]  D. He,et al.  Preparation of High-Quality Microcrystalline Silicon from Fluorinated Precursors by a Layer-by-Layer Technique , 1993 .

[14]  Isaac Balberg,et al.  Deposition of device quality, low H content amorphous silicon , 1991 .

[15]  Ch. Hof,et al.  On the Way towards High-Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells by the "Micromorph" Concept , 1996 .

[16]  Schiff,et al.  Hydrogen-mediated model for defect metastability in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. , 1989, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[17]  Frank Jansen,et al.  On the thermal dissociation of hydrogen , 1989 .