Doped microcrystalline silicon oxide alloys for silicon‐based photovoltaics: Optoelectronic properties, chemical composition, and structure studied by advanced characterization techniques. Issue 7 (23rd May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smirnov, V.; Lambertz, A.; Moll, S.; Bär, M.; Starr, D. E.; Wilks, R. G.; Gorgoi, M.; Heidt, A.; Luysberg, M.; Holländer, B.; Finger, F.
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 213:Issue 7(2016:Jul.)
• Page Start: 1814
• Page End: 1820
• Publication Date: 2016-05-23
• Subjects: crystal structure -- filaments -- silicon -- silicon oxide -- transmission electron microscopy -- X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Solids -- Industrial applications -- Periodicals; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201533022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6300

Abstract

Abstract : Doped microcrystalline silicon oxide (μc‐SiO x :H) alloys attract significant attention as a functional material in photovoltaic devices. By using various advanced characterization methods, we have studied the relationship between optoelectronic properties, chemical composition, and structure of p‐type µc‐SiO x :H deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). For a wide range of compositions with varying oxygen content, we show that the dominant components are Si and a‐SiO2, while the fraction of suboxides is minor. The μc‐SiO x :H material with sufficient oxygen content ( x = 0.35) exhibits an enlarged optical gap E 04 > 2.2 eV and sufficiently high dark conductivity >10 −6 S cm −1 ; the crystalline silicon fraction has a filament‐like shape (with a typical width of around 10 nm) forming a branch‐like structure elongated in the growth direction over several hundreds of nanometers.