Low Temperature Back-Surface-Field (BSF) Technology for Crystalline Silicon (c-Si) Thin Film Solar Cells Based on Heterojunctions between Boron-Doped P-Type Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon and c-Si
We propose a low temperature back-surface field (BSF) technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) thin film solar cells. The BSF structure has a heterojunction between a p-type c-Si substrate and a boron (B)-doped p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layer deposited on the back surface of the c-Si substrate at 200degC. The back-surface recombination velocity, Sb, of minority carriers can be reduced to less than 1000 cm/s in this structure, while the value of S b is 106 cm/s when a B-doped p-type layer is epitaxially grown on the c-Si substrate. We have clarified, from internal photoemission (IPE) and attenuated-total-reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy measurements, that possible reasons for the observed low value of Sb are (1) the band lineup of the heterojunction (HJ) between B-doped p-type a-Si:H and c-Si and (2) the hydrogen passivation of defects in B-doped a-Si:H
Sticking and recombination of the SiH3 radical on hydrogenated amorphous silicon: The catalytic effect of diborane
The deposition rate of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films in SiH4 glow-discharge is drastically enhanced upon addition of B2H6 when the gas-phase concentration exceeds 10−4. This cannot be attributed to gas-phase reactions and must be interpreted as an increase of the sticking probability of the dominant SiH3 radical. However, the total surface loss probability (β) of SiH3 which includes both sticking (s) and recombination (γ) increases only above 10−2 B2H6 concentration, which reveals that between 10−4 and 10−2 the ratio sβ increases. A precursor-state model is proposed in which SiH3 first physisorbs on the H-covered surface and migrates until it recombines, or chemisorbs on a free dangling bond site. At a typical deposition temperature of 200° C, the only mechanism of creation of dangling bonds in the absence of B2H6 is precisely the recombination of SiH3 as SiH4 by H abstraction, which limits the sticking probability to a fraction of β. This restriction is overcome with the help of hydroboron radicals, presumably BH3, which catalyze H2 desorption.
Phase formation during mechanical alloying in the Ti–Si system
Abstract Mechanical alloying of Ti–Si powder mixture or TiH 1.924 –Si powder mixture was performed by high-energy ball milling, in which the Ti to Si mole ratio was 1:2. The phase formations in both mixtures during milling were investigated by X-ray diffraction. Mechanical alloying a mixture of elemental powders led to the formation of TiSi 2 equilibrium compound, while when starting from Si + TiH 1.924 , a metastable phase was formed. The metastable phase completely transforms to TiSi 2 when the mechanically alloyed powder is annealed at temperatures above 800 °C. Two different pathways of phase transitions during mechanical alloying are attributed to the existence of hydrogen atoms, i.e., when starting from Si + TiH 1.924 compared to Si + Ti, the kinetics for the formation of the TiSi 2 intermetallic compound slows down. The kinetics related to the different phase transitions depending on the starting powder mixture are discussed.