Tomohiro Nozaki

Controlled Doping of Silicon Nanocrystals Investigated by Solution-Processed Field Effect Transistors

The doping of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), which is vital for the optimization of NC-based devices, remains a significant challenge. While gas-phase plasma approaches have been successful in incorporating dopant atoms into NCs, little is known about their electronic activation. Here, we investigate the electronic properties of doped silicon NC thin films cast from solution by field effect transistor analysis. We find that, analogous to bulk silicon, boron and phosphorus electronically dope Si NC thin films; however, the dopant activation efficiency is only ∼10(-2)-10(-4). We also show that surface doping of Si NCs is an effective way to alter the carrier concentrations in Si NC films.

Doped silicon nanocrystals from organic dopant precursor by a SiCl4-based high frequency nonthermal plasma

Doped silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) are of great interest in demanding low-cost nanodevices because of the abundance and nontoxicity of Si. Here, we demonstrate a cost-effective gas phase approach to synthesize phosphorous (P)-doped Si NCs in which the precursors used, i.e., SiCl4, trimethyl phosphite (TMP), are both safe and economical. It is found that the TMP-enabled P-doping does not change the crystalline structure of Si NCs. The surface of P-doped Si NCs is terminated by both Cl and H. The Si–H bond density at the surface of P-doped Si NCs is found to be much higher than that of undoped Si NCs. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron spin resonance results indicate that P atoms are doped into the substitutional sites of the Si-NC core and electrically active in Si NCs. Unintentional impurities, such as carbon contained in TMP, are not introduced into Si NCs.

Optical, electrical, and photovoltaic properties of silicon nanoparticles with different crystallinities

Current researches on silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) are mainly focusing on the crystallized one, while some basic optical and electrical properties of particles with different crystallinities are still unclear. Hence, in this work, Si NPs with different crystallinities were easily fabricated with non-thermal plasma by changing the input power, and the crystallinity effects on the optical, electrical, and photovoltaic properties of particles were extensively studied. It is found that amorphous particles have strong light absorption, especially in short wavelength region; however, the carrier mobility is relatively poor. This is mainly because of numerous dangling bonds and defects that exist in Si NPs with poor crystallinity, which work as carrier trapping centers. As a result, the efficiency of Si NPs-based hybrid solar cells increases monotonously with particle crystallinity. This indicates that highly crystallized Si nanocrystals with less defects are desirable for high efficiency solar cells.

Gas breakdown mechanism in pulse-modulated asymmetric ratio frequency dielectric barrier discharges

The gas breakdown mechanisms, especially the roles of metastable species in atmospheric pressure pulse-modulated ratio frequency barrier discharges with co-axial cylindrical electrodes, were studied numerically using a one dimensional self-consistent fluid model. Simulation results showed that in low duty cycle cases, the electrons generated from the channels associated with metastable species played a more important role in initializing next breakdown than the direct ionization of helium atoms of electronic grounded states by electron-impact. In order to quantitatively evaluate the contribution to the discharge by the metastables, we defined a “characteristic time” and examined how the value varied with the gap distance and the electrode asymmetry. The results indicated that the lifetime of the metastable species (including He*and He2*) was much longer than that of the pulse-on period and as effective sources of producing electrons they lasted over a period up to millisecond. When the ratio of the outer ...

Plasma Synthesis of Silicon Nanocrystals: Application to Organic/Inorganic Photovoltaics through Solution Processing

Silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) have unique optical and electronic properties that are advantageous for semiconductor device applications and here their application to solar cell is presented. Free-standing, narrow size distribution SiNCs were synthesized by non-thermal plasma using silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) successfully. Blended solution of as-produced SiNCs and P3HT, or Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl), was spin-casted to form bulk heterojunction solar cell devices. As the weight fraction of SiNCs increased up to 50 wt%, the short circuit current and the power conversion efficiency dramatically increased, while the open circuit voltage and the fill factor do not change significantly. The improved performance is attributable to increased probability of exciton dissociation at acceptor SiNCs and donor P3HT interface.

Numerical investigation on atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharges driven by combined rf and short-pulse sources in co-axial electrodes

(Received July 12, 2013) Atmospheric-pressure discharges driven by combined rf and short-pulse sources in co-axial electrodes were investigated in this work using a one-dimensional self-consistent fluid model. It demonstrated that the plasma intensity in the rf discharge could be enhanced drastically when an additional low-duty-ratio pulse source was applied to the discharge. The study investigated how the plasma density varied with the voltage amplitude of the pulse source. Results showed that the discharge mode turned into glow mode as the pulse amplitude exceeded a critical value. Two cases were investigated on the premise that the outer electrode was electrically grounded: in the first case the positive pulse was applied to the inner electrode while in the second case the negative pulse was used instead, and the spatial discharge characteristics were compared.