Preparation and characterization of hydrogenated amorphous boron thin films and thin film solar cells produced by glow discharge decomposition methods. Third quarterly progress report, July 1, 1979-September 30, 1979

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5901557· OSTI ID:5901557

Cocks, F H; Jones, P L; Dimmey, L J

This quarterly report is an account of recent progress in our program to produce hydrogenated amorphous boron thin films, to characterize these films, and to produce and evaluate solar cells from such amorphous boron films. In exact analogy with the situation previously existing for amorphous silicon, amorphous boron, without hydrogenation, has poor semiconducting properties due to defect states in the band gap. The decomposition of diborane, penataborane, and/or decarborane to produce thin films can reasonably be expected to result in amorphous boron thin films containing substantial quantities of hydrogen. The current program aims directly at the growth and doping of such hydrogenated amorphous boron thin films, the evaluation and optimization of their semiconductor properties, and the fabrication and testing of thin film solar cells from them. Both intrinsic and doped a-boron thin films have been produced. Film characterization efforts have been primarily focused on controlling the optical band gap by annealing the as-deposited films in vacuum at 400/sup 0/C, and measuring the resulting optical gap as a function of bake-out time. Because the optical band gap of a-boron has been observed to vary from 0.8 eV to over 2.0 eV as a function of hydrogenation, it should be possible, by controlled annealing, to obtain a-boron films with an optimal band gap of 1.45 eV. In addition, work is nearing completion on the cryostat which will be used to measure the electrical gaps of our a-boron films.

• Research Organization: Duke Univ., Durham, NC (USA). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-79ET23041
• OSTI ID: 5901557
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/23041-3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
AMORPHOUS STATE
ANNEALING
BORON
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY GAP
FABRICATION
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDROGENATION
OPTIMIZATION
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PRODUCTION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SEMIMETALS
SOLAR CELLS