High-quality wide-gap hydrogenated amorphous silicon fabricated using hydrogen plasma post-treatment

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 1994, Vol.33 (4A), p.1773-1777
• Main Authors: OKAMOTO, S, HISHIKAWA, Y, TSUGE, S, SASAKI, M, NINOMIYA, K, NISHIKUNI, M, TSUDA, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amorphous semiconductors; glasses; Applied sciences; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electrical properties of specific thin films; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Natural energy; Photoelectric conversion: solar cells and arrays; Photovoltaic conversion; Physics; Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells; Solar energy
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.33.1773

The hydrogen plasma post-treatment of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has been investigated to obtain high-quality wide-gap films. The hydrogen plasma treatment after film deposition substantially increases the hydrogen content and the optical gap of a-Si films without deteriorating their optoelectric properties within the range of treatment conditions in this study, where no microcrystallization of the films is observed. A photoconductivity of ∼10 -5 Ω -1 cm -1 and a photosensitivity (the ratio of photoconductivity to dark conductivity) of >10 6 are obtained for a-Si:H films with an optical gap of >1.7 eV from the (α h ν) 1/3 plot (>2.0 eV from Tauc's plot) under AM-1, 100 mW/cm 2 illumination. An extremely high open circuit voltage of >1 V is obtained for an a-Si single-junction cell whose i-layer was fabricated using the hydrogen plasma treatment.