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Impact of a-Si:H structural properties on the annealing behavior of a-Si:H/c-Si heterostructures used as precursors for high-efficiency solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Tim Ferdinand Schulze
Affiliation:
tim.schulze@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics, Berlin, Germany
Hannes Ner Beushausen
Affiliation:
hannes.beushausen@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Caspar Leendertz
Affiliation:
caspar.leendertz@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics, Berlin, Germany
Anja Dobrich
Affiliation:
anja.dobrich@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Materials for Photovoltaics, Berlin, Germany
Thomas Hannappel
Affiliation:
hannappel@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Materials for Photovoltaics, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Lars Korte
Affiliation:
korte@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics, Berlin, Germany
Bernd Rech
Affiliation:
bernd.rech@helmholtz-berlin.de, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Abstract

We analyze the dependence of the interface defect density Dit in amorphous/crystalline (a-Si:H/c-Si) heterostructures on the microscopic properties of the ultrathin (10nm) undoped a-Si:H films. It is shown that the hydrogen bonding configuration, probed by infrared spectroscopy, determines the a-Si:H network disorder, which in turn governs the annealing behavior of these structures upon a short thermal treatment at moderate temperatures (T ≤ 200°C). While the as-deposited Dit seems to be determined by the local structure at the interface, the final state of the annealed samples is determined by the bulk a-Si:H network strain as reflected in the valence band tail slope. Thus it appears valid to treat the equilibrated a-Si:H/c-Si interface as a 2D-layer that has the projected defect properties of the 3D a-Si:H bulk.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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