Weijie Du

In-situ heavily p-type doping of over 1020 cm−3 in semiconducting BaSi2 thin films for solar cells applications

B-doped p-BaSi2 layer growth by molecular beam epitaxy and the influence of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on hole concentrations were presented. The hole concentration was controlled in the range between 1017 and 1020 cm−3 at room temperature by changing the temperature of the B Knudsen cell crucible. The acceptor level of the B atoms was estimated to be approximately 23 meV. High hole concentrations exceeding 1 × 1020 cm−3 were achieved via dopant activation using RTA at 800 °C in Ar. The activation efficiency was increased up to 10%.

Improved photoresponsivity of semiconducting BaSi2 epitaxial films grown on a tunnel junction for thin-film solar cells

The highest photoresponsivity and an internal quantum efficiency exceeding 70% at 1.55 eV were achieved for 400 nm thick undoped n-type BaSi2 epitaxial layers formed on a n+-BaSi2/p+-Si tunnel junction (TJ) on Si(111). The diffusion of Sb atoms was effectively suppressed by an intermediate polycrystalline Si layer grown by solid phase epitaxy, located between the TJ and undoped BaSi2 layers.

Influence of grain size and surface condition on minority-carrier lifetime in undoped n-BaSi2 on Si(111)

We have fabricated approximately 0.5-μm-thick undoped n-BaSi2 epitaxial films with various average grain areas ranging from 2.6 to 23.3 μm2 on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy, and investigated their minority-carrier lifetime properties by the microwave-detected photoconductivity decay method at room temperature. The measured excess-carrier decay curves were divided into three parts in terms of decay rate. We characterized the BaSi2 films using the decay time of the second decay mode, τSRH, caused by Shockley-Read-Hall recombination without the carrier trapping effect, as a measure of the minority-carrier properties in the BaSi2 films. The measured τSRH was grouped into two, independently of the average grain area of BaSi2. BaSi2 films with cloudy surfaces or capped intentionally with a 3 nm Ba or Si layer, showed large τSRH (ca. 8 μs), whereas those with mirror surfaces much smaller τSRH (ca. 0.4 μs). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements were performed to discuss the surface region of the BaSi2...

p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells with conversion efficiency reaching 9.0%

p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells consisting of a 20 nm thick B-doped p-BaSi2 epitaxial layer (p = 2.2 × 1018 cm−3) on n-Si(111) (ρ = 1–4 Ω cm) were formed by molecular beam epitaxy. The separation of photogenerated minority carriers is promoted at the heterointerface in this structure. Under AM1.5 illumination, the conversion efficiency η reached 9.0%, which is the highest ever reported for solar cells with semiconducting silicides. An open-circuit voltage of 0.46 V, a short-circuit current density of 31.9 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.60 were obtained. These results demonstrate the high potential of BaSi2 for solar cell applications.

Analysis of the electrical properties of Cr/n-BaSi2 Schottky junction and n-BaSi2/p-Si heterojunction diodes for solar cell applications

Current status and future prospects towards BaSi2 pn junction solar cells are presented. As a preliminary step toward the formation of BaSi2 homojunction diodes, diodes with a Cr/n-BaSi2 Schottky junction and an n-BaSi2/p-Si hetero-junction have been fabricated to investigate the electrical properties of the n-BaSi2. Clear rectifying properties were observed in the current density versus voltage characteristics in both diodes. From the capacitance-voltage measurements, the build-in potential, VD, was 0.53 V in the Cr/n-BaSi2 Schottky junction diode, and the Schottky barrier height was 0.73 eV calculated from the thermoionic emission theory; the VD was about 1.5 V in the n-BaSi2/p-Si hetero-junction diode, which was consistent with the difference in the Fermi level between the n-BaSi2 and the p-Si.

Precipitation control and activation enhancement in boron-doped p+-BaSi2 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Precipitation free boron (B)-doped as-grown p+-BaSi2 layer is essential for the BaSi2 p-n junction solar cells. In this article, B-doped p-BaSi2 layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) substrates, and the influence of substrate growth temperature (TS) and B temperature (TB) in the Knudsen cell crucible were investigated on the formation of B precipitates and the activation efficiency. The hole concentration, p, reached 1.0 × 1019 cm−3 at room temperature for TS = 600 and TB = 1550 °C. However, the activation rate of B was only 0.1%. Furthermore, the B precipitates were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). When the TS was raised to 650 °C and the TB was decreased to 1350 °C, the p reached 6.8 × 1019 cm−3, and the activation rate increased to more than 20%. No precipitation of B was also confirmed by TEM.

Lattice and grain-boundary diffusions of boron atoms in BaSi2 epitaxial films on Si(111)

A 180-nm-thick boron (B) layer was deposited on a 300-nm-thick a-axis-oriented BaSi2 epitaxial film grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si(111) and was annealed at different temperatures in ultrahigh vacuum. The depth profiles of B were investigated using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) with O2+, and the diffusion coefficients of B were evaluated. The B profiles were reproduced well by taking both the lattice and the grain boundary (GB) diffusions into consideration. The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image revealed that the GBs of the BaSi2 film were very sharp and normal to the sample surface. The plan-view TEM image exhibited that the grain size of the BaSi2 film was approximately 0.6 μm. The temperature dependence of lattice and GB diffusion coefficients was derived from the SIMS profiles, and their activation energies were found to be 4.6 eV and 4.4 eV, respectively.

Hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study on valence band structure of semiconducting BaSi2

The valence band structures of a 35-nm-thick BaSi2 epitaxial film on Si(111) have been explored at room temperature by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES). The experimentally obtained photoelectron spectrum is well reproduced by first-principles calculations based on the pseudopotential method. The top of the valence band consists mainly of Si 3s and 3p states in BaSi2, suggesting that the effective mass of holes is small in BaSi2. This is favorable from the viewpoint of solar cell applications. The observed spectrum shifted slightly to the lower energy side due to n-type conductivity of BaSi2. The valence band top was observed at about 0.8 eV below the Fermi level in the HAXPES spectrum.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of BaSi2 Films with Grain Size over 4 µm on Si(111)

100-nm-thick BaSi2 epitaxial films were grown on Si(111) substrates by a two-step growth method including reactive deposition epitaxy (RDE) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The Ba deposition rate and duration were varied from 0.25 to 1.0 nm/min and from 5 to 120 min during RDE, respectively. Plan-view transmission electron micrographs indicated that the grain size in the MBE-grown BaSi2 was significantly dependent on the RDE growth conditions and was varied from approximately 0.2 to more than 4 µm.

Measurement of valence-band offset at native oxide/BaSi2 interfaces by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Undoped n-type BaSi2 films were grown on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy, and the valence band (VB) offset at the interface between the BaSi2 and its native oxide was measured by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) at room temperature. HAXPES enabled us to investigate the electronic states of the buried BaSi2 layer non-destructively thanks to its large analysis depth. We performed the depth-analysis by varying the take-off angle (TOA) of photoelectrons as 15°, 30°, and 90° with respect to the sample surface and succeeded to obtain the VB spectra of the BaSi2 and the native oxide separately. The VB maximum was located at −1.0 eV from the Fermi energy for the BaSi2 and −4.9 eV for the native oxide. We found that the band bending did not occur near the native oxide/BaSi2 interface. This result was clarified by the fact that the core-level emission peaks did not shift regardless of TOA (i.e., analysis depth). Thus, the barrier height of the native oxide for the minority-carriers in the undoped n-...