Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Photovoltaic devices using hydrogenated amorphous silicon produced by the chemical vapor deposition of higher order silanes. Final report, 1 August 1982-31 August 1983

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5628846· OSTI ID:5628846

This report presents the results of work performed to explore the properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) produced by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of higher order silanes. The higher silanes were produced by a chemical method and by silent electric discharge of CCD-grade monosilane. The latter method yields a high-purity mixture of higher silanes. The a-Si:H films were deposited mainly from silane by a static CVD method: the heated reactor was purged and evacuated and then filled to the initial pressure desired with reactant gases. The extent of the deposition chemistry was monitored by the increase in pressure. At a predetermined increase in pressure, the system was quickly evacuated. This process was repeated several times to obtain a film of the desired thickness. These experiments were performed to increase our understanding of the deposition mechanism of a-Si:H, to improve the quality of CVD a-Si:H layers for device applications, to measure the properties of CVD a-Si:H doped and undoped layers, and to explore new device structures and alternative CVD techniques.

Research Organization:
Chronar Corp., Princeton, NJ (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-83CH10093
OSTI ID:
5628846
Report Number(s):
SERI/STR-211-2607; ON: DE85008810
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English