| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Topical Conference | Monday Sessions |
| Session EN+PS-MoM |
| Session: | Plasmas for Photovoltaics & Energy Applications |
| Presenter: | I.K. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | I.K. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea J.H. Lim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea K.N. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea G.Y. Yeom, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) and amorphous silicon thin film are expected to be promising
materials for solar cell and thin film transistor. Especially, nc-Si:H thin films have been reported to have
an enhanced stability due to its more rigid structure. These thin films are usually grown with
plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using silicon-containing gas mixtures such as SiH4 and H2.
To increase the photovoltaic efficiency and to improve the mobility of TFT devices, it is necessary to produce
nanocrystalline silicon films with higher crystallization percentages. But it is reported that high H2. dilution leads to
a significantly lower deposition rate.
In this study, we investigated the influence of He mixture with SiH4 gas instead of H2 to improve the crystallization
percentage of the deposited silicon without significantly decreasing the deposition rate.
To find out properties of the thin film deposited with He/SiH4 such as structural properties, crystalline volume fraction (Xc), active radicals in plasma, Si-H bonding characteristics, and conductivity, Scanning Electron Microscopy
(SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES), Fourier-Transform-Infra-Red (FT-IR), and Keithley
measurement kit, were used respectively. The results showed the increase of crystallization percentage by using
He instead of H2 as the additive gas and, with the increase of the applied RF power up to 140W, crystalline volume
fraction of about 80% could be observed.