K. Sharma

Optical modeling of plasma-deposited ZnO films: Electron scattering at different length scales

In this work, an optical modeling study on electron scattering mechanisms in plasma-deposited ZnO layers is presented. Because various applications of ZnO films pose a limit on the electron carrier density due to its effect on the film transmittance, higher electron mobility values are generally preferred instead. Hence, insights into the electron scattering contributions affecting the carrier mobility are required. In optical models, the Drude oscillator is adopted to represent the free-electron contribution and the obtained optical mobility can be then correlated with the macroscopic material properties. However, the influence of scattering phenomena on the optical mobility depends on the considered range of photon energy. For example, the grain-boundary scattering is generally not probed by means of optical measurements and the ionized-impurity scattering contribution decreases toward higher photon energies. To understand this frequency dependence and quantify contributions from different scattering ph...

Spatial atomic layer deposition on flexible substrates using a modular rotating cylinder reactor

Spatial atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a new version of ALD based on the separation of reactant gases in space instead of time. In this paper, the authors present results for spatial ALD on flexible substrates using a modular rotating cylinder reactor. The design for this reactor is based on two concentric cylinders. The outer cylinder remains fixed and contains a series of slits. These slits can accept a wide range of modules that attach from the outside. The modules can easily move between the various slit positions and perform precursor dosing, purging, or pumping. The inner cylinder rotates with the flexible substrate and passes underneath the various spatially separated slits in the outer cylinder. Trimethyl aluminum and ozone were used to grow Al2O3 ALD films at 40 °C on metallized polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates to characterize this spatial ALD reactor. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements revealed a constant Al2O3 ALD growth rate of 1.03 A/cycle with rotation speeds from 40 to 100...

Improved conductivity of aluminum-doped ZnO : the effect of hydrogen diffusion from a hydrogenated amorphous silicon capping layer

Plasma-deposited aluminum-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) demonstrated a resistivity gradient as function of the film thickness, extending up to about 600 nm. This gradient decreased sharply when the ZnO:Al was capped by a hydrogenated amorphous silicon layer (a-Si:H) and subsequently treated according to the solid phase crystallization (SPC) procedure at 600 °C. The resistivity reduced from 1.2 · 10−1 to 2.6 · 10−3 Ω · cm for a film thickness of 130 nm, while for thicker films the decrease in resistivity was less pronounced, i.e., a factor of 2 for a film thickness of 810 nm. While the carrier concentration was not affected, the mobility significantly increased from 7 to 30 cm2/V · s for the thick ZnO:Al layers. This increase was ascribed to the passivation of grain boundary defects by hydrogen, which diffused from the a-Si:H toward the ZnO:Al during the SPC procedure. The passivation effect was more pronounced in thinner ZnO:Al layers, characterized by a smaller grain size, due to the presence of large grain boundar...

Spatial atomic layer deposition on flexible porous substrates: ZnO on anodic aluminum oxide films and Al2O3 on Li ion battery electrodes

Spatial atomic layer deposition (S-ALD) was examined on flexible porous substrates utilizing a rotating cylinder reactor to perform the S-ALD. S-ALD was first explored on flexible polyethylene terephthalate polymer substrates to obtain S-ALD growth rates on flat surfaces. ZnO ALD with diethylzinc and ozone as the reactants at 50 °C was the model S-ALD system. ZnO S-ALD was then performed on nanoporous flexible anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) films. ZnO S-ALD in porous substrates depends on the pore diameter, pore aspect ratio, and reactant exposure time that define the gas transport. To evaluate these parameters, the Zn coverage profiles in the pores of the AAO films were measured using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). EDS measurements were conducted for different reaction conditions and AAO pore geometries. Substrate speeds and reactant pulse durations were defined by rotating cylinder rates of 10, 100, and 200 revolutions per minute (RPM). AAO pore diameters of 10, 25, 50, and 100 nm were utilized with...

In situ crystallization kinetics studies of plasma-deposited, hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers

The impact of the amorphous silicon properties, i.e., the microstructure parameter R* and the medium range order (MRO), on the crystallization process is highlighted and discussed. In agreement with literature, the development of large grains extending through the thickness of the poly-Si layer is found to be promoted by an increase in the amorphous silicon microstructure parameter, R*. Furthermore, while the role of the MRO in controlling the incubation time and, therefore, the onset in crystallization is generally acknowledged, it is also concluded that the presence of nano-sized voids plays an essential role in the crystallization kinetics.

Solid-phase crystallization of ultra high growth rate amorphous silicon films

In this paper, we report on the deposition of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films at ultra-high growth rate (11–60 nm/s) by means of the expanding thermal plasma technique, followed by solid-phase crystallization (SPC). Large-grain (∼1.5 μm) polycrystalline silicon was obtained after SPC of high growth rate (∼25 nm/s) deposited a-Si:H films. The obtained results are discussed by taking into account the impact of the a-Si:H microstructure parameter R* as well as of its morphology, on the final grain size development.

Expanding thermal plasma chemical vapour deposition of ZnO:Al layers for CIGS solar cells

Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) grown by expanding thermal plasma chemical vapour deposition (ETP-CVD) has demonstrated excellent electrical and optical properties, which make it an attractive candidate as a transparent conductive oxide for photovoltaic applications. However, when depositing ZnO:Al on CIGS solar cell stacks, one should be aware that high substrate temperature processing (i.e., >200°C) can damage the crucial underlying layers/interfaces (such as CIGS/CdS and CdS/i-ZnO). In this paper, the potential of adopting ETP-CVD ZnO:Al in CIGS solar cells is assessed: the effect of substrate temperature during film deposition on both the electrical properties of the ZnO:Al and the eventual performance of the CIGS solar cells was investigated. For ZnO:Al films grown using the high thermal budget (HTB) condition, lower resistivities, ρ, were achievable (5 × 10 -4 Ω·cm) than those grown using the low thermal budget (LTB) conditions (2 × 10-3 Ω·cm), whereas higher CIGS conversion efficiencies were obtained for the LTB condition (up to 10.9%) than for the HTB condition (up to 9.0%). Whereas such temperature-dependence of CIGS device parameters has previously been linked with chemical migration between individual layers, we demonstrate that in this case it is primarily attributed to the prevalence of shunt currents. cop. 2014 K. Sharma et al.

On the effect of the underlying ZnO:Al layer on the crystallization kinetics of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

In this contribution, we analyze the thickness effect of the underlying aluminum doped-zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) layers on the structural properties and crystallization kinetics of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. It is shown that the disorder in as-deposited a-Si:H films, as probed by Raman spectroscopy, decreased with increasing ZnO:Al roughness. This caused an earlier nucleation upon crystallization when compared to a-Si:H layers directly grown on SiNx-coated glass.

Spatial atomic layer deposition for coating flexible porous Li-ion battery electrodes

Ultrathin atomic layer deposition (ALD) coatings on the electrodes of Li-ion batteries can enhance the capacity stability of the Li-ion batteries. To commercialize ALD for Li-ion battery production, spatial ALD is needed to decrease coating times and provide a coating process compatible with continuous roll-to-roll (R2R) processing. The porous electrodes of Li-ion batteries provide a special challenge because higher reactant exposures are needed for spatial ALD in porous substrates. This work utilized a modular rotating cylinder spatial ALD reactor operating at rotation speeds up to 200 revolutions/min (RPM) and substrate speeds up to 200 m/min. The conditions for spatial ALD were adjusted to coat flexible porous substrates. The reactor was initially used to characterize spatial Al2O3 and ZnO ALD on flat, flexible metalized polyethylene terephthalate foils. These studies showed that slower rotation speeds and spacers between the precursor module and the two adjacent pumping modules could significantly inc...

Study of the effect of boron doping on the solid phase crystallisation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films

Thin-film polycrystalline silicon on glass obtained by crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films is an interesting alternative for thin-film silicon solar cells. Although the solar-cell efficiencies are still limited, this technique offers excellent opportunity to study the influence of B-doping on the crystallisation process of a-Si:H. Our approach is to slowly crystallize B-doped a-Si:H films by solid phase crystallization in the temperature range 580–600°C. We use plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and expanding thermal plasma chemical vapour deposition (ETPCVD) for the B-doped a-Si:H deposition. In this work we show the first in-situ study of the crystallization process of B-doped a-Si:H films produced by ETPCVD and make a comparison to the crystallization of intrinsic ETPCVD deposited a-Si:H as well as intrinsic and B-doped a-Si:H films deposited by PECVD. The crystallization process is investigated by in-situ x-ray diffraction, using a high temperature chamber for the annealing procedure. The study shows a strong decrease in the time required for full crystallisation for B-doped a-Si:H films compared to the intrinsic films. The time before the onset of crystallisation is reduced by the incorporation of B as is the grain growth velocity. The time to full crystallisation can be manipulated by the B2H6-to-SiH4 ratio used during the deposition and by the microstructure of the as-deposited a-Si:H films.