Aluminum induced crystallization of sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon for economically viable thin film silicon solar cells
- University of Arkansas
- ORNL
Poly-crystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films have been prepared by aluminum induced crystallization (AiC) technique. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films were prepared by sputtering a silicon target in hydrogen and argon ambient. It was observed that deposition rates increased more than two folds with the introduction of the hydrogen in the deposition chamber. The a-Si:H thin films were coated with a thin layer of sputtered aluminum (AI). X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that the crystallization commenced at as low as 225 C. The depth profile of the annealed samples, obtained by scanning Auger microscopy (SAM), did not show any layer exchange below 300 C. The SAM analysis showed clear layer exchange in the higher temperature ( >350 C) region.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); High Temperature Materials Laboratory
- Sponsoring Organization:
- EE USDOE - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 989556
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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