Spectroscopic ellipsometry characterization of thin-film silicon nitride

Conference · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:486036

Jellison, Jr, G E; Modine, F A ^[1]; Doshi, P; Rohatgi, A ^[2]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Georiga Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

We have measured and analyzed the optical characteristics of a series of silicon nitride thin films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on silicon substrates for photovoltaic applications. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements were made by using a two-channel spectroscopic polarization modulator ellipsometer that measures N, S, and C data simultaneously. The data were fit to a model consisting of air / roughness / SiN / crystalline silicon. The roughness was modeled using the Bruggeman effective medium approximation, assuming 50% SiN, 50% voids. The optical functions of the SiN film were parameterized using a model by Jellison and Modine. All the {Chi}{sup 2} are near 1, demonstrating that this model works extremely well for all SiN films. The measured dielectric functions were used to make optimized SiN antireflection coatings for crystalline silicon solar cells.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 486036
• Report Number(s): CONF-9705124--2; ON: DE97006444
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANTIREFLECTION COATINGS
ELLIPSOMETRY
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ROUGHNESS
SILICON NITRIDES
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
THIN FILMS
VOIDS