Preparation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon and its characterization by transient photoconductivity
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is a semiconductor material that has generated recent widespread interest because of its low manufacturing and processing costs compared with other semiconducting materials. The performance of devices incorporating a-Si:H depends to a large extent on the photoresponse of the a-Si:H. The work in this thesis involves the construction of an a-Si:H plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system, characterization of the quality of the a-Si:H produced by this system, and measurement of the transient photoconductivity n response to pulses of laser illumination with different durations. The relationship of the design of the PECVD system to the quality of the a-Si:H is treated, emphasizing the features included in the system to reduce the incorporation of defects in the a-Si:H layers. These features include an ultra-high-vacuum deposition chamber, a load-lock chamber enabling samples to be loaded under vacuum, and an electrode assembly designed to produce a uniform electric field for decomposing the reactant gases. The quality of the A-Si:H films is examined. The dark conductivity activation energy, optical absorption, and photoconductivity are measured to characterize intrinsic, p-doped, and n-doped a-Si:H layers. The current vs. voltage characteristics under illuminated and dark conditions, and the quantum efficiency are measured on a-Si:H p-i-n diodes made in our system, and the results show that these diodes compare favorably to similar high-quality p-i-n diodes produced at other laboratories. An investigation into the effect of the light-induced degradation associated with a-Si:H on the performance of OASLMs is also presented. Finally, the transient photoresponse to laser pulses ranging in duration from 1 {mu}s to 1 s over a range of temperatures from 100 to 300 K is investigated. We have discovered that the response time of the initial photoconductivity decay increases as the excitation-pulse duration increases.
- Research Organization:
- Colorado Univ., Boulder, CO (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 114809
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: 1992
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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