Atmospheric and light-induced effects in nanostructured silicon deposited by capacitively and inductively-coupled plasma

Year 2015, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 67 - 71, 01.04.2015

Zaki Saleh , Gizem Nogay Engin Ozkol Rasit Turan

https://doi.org/10.18201/ijisae.13913

Abstract

Renewable sources of energy have demonstrated the potential to replace much of the conventional sources but the cost continues to pose a challenge. Efforts to reduce cost involve highly efficient and less expensive materials as well as enhanced light management. Nanostructured materials consisting of silicon quantum dots in a matrix of amorphous silicon (a-Si) are promising for higher efficiency and better stability. Quantum confinement offers a tunable band gap, relaxes momentum conservation rule, and may permit multi exciton generation, MEG. We employ electron spin resonance (ESR), the temperature dependence of dark and photoconductivity to compare the stability of amorphous and nanostructured silicon films deposited by inductively- and capacitively-coupled plasma against atmospheric and light exposure. Distinctly different behaviors are observed for amorphous and nanostructured films suggesting that nanostructured films are more permeable to oxygen infusion but more resistant to light induced effect

Keywords

Photoconductivity, amorphous, nanostructure, atmospheric aging, electron spin resonance.

References

• D.L. Staebler, C.R. Wronsky, Appl. Phys. Lett. 31, 292 (1977).
• M. Stutzmann, W. B. Jackson and C. C. Tsai: Phys. Rev. B 32, 23 (1985).
• C-H. Lee, A. Sazonov, and A Nathan, Applied Phys. Lett. 86, 222106 (2005).
• E.C. Cho, M.A. Green, G. Conibeer, D.Y. Song, Y.H. Cho, G. Scardera, S. J. Huang, S. Park, X.J. Hao, Y.D. Huang, L.V. Dao, Adv. Opt. Electron, 2007, 11 (2007).
• C. Delerue, G. Allan, and M. Lannoo, Phys. Rev. B, 48, 11024 (1993).
• J. Heitmann, F. Müller, L. X. Yi, M. Zacharias, D. Kovalev, F. Eichhorn, Phys. Rev. B 69, 195309 (2004).
• A. Nozik, J. Chem. Phys. Lett. 2008, 457, 3 - 11.
• J-H Yoon, P.C. Taylor, C-H Lee, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 227-230, 324 (1998).
• F. Finger, R. Carius, T. Dylla, S. Klein, S. Okur, M. Günes, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, 7, 83 (2005).
• Smirnov, S. Reynolds, F. Finger, R. Carius, C. Main, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 352, 1075 (2006).
• M. Gunes, H. Cansever, G. Yilmaz, V. Smirnov, F. Finger, R. Brüggemann, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 358, 2074 (2012).
• D. Song, E.-C. Cho, G. Conibeer, C. Flynn, Y. Huang, M.A. Green, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 92/4 (2008) 474.
• S. Veprek, Z. Iqbal, R.O. Kuhne, P. Capezzuto, F.A. Sarott, and J.K. T. Sako, H. Kiyoto, H. Terauchi, and T. Imura, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 59 & 60, 791 (1983).