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Fabrication of Boron Compensated Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films with Significantly Improved Stability Using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Technique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Mohan K. Bhan
Mohan K. Bhan*
Affiliation:
Microelectronics Research Center, Applied Sciences Complex-I, Iowa State University, 1925 Scholl Road, Ames, Iowa - 50011, USA.
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Abstract

We have systematically investigated the effects of addition of sub-ppm levels of boron on the stability of a-Si:H films and p-i-n devices, deposited by PE-CVD technique. The films thus produced with appropriate amounts of boron, show a significant improvement in stability, when soaked under both AM 1.5 (short-term) as well as 10×sun (long-term) illumination conditions. The opto-electronic properties of the films are quite respectable It is concluded that boron compensates the native impurities by forming donor-acceptor pairs, which reduces the “fast” defects and hence the initial degradation of the films. It is also speculated that boron may also be improving the short-term stability, by reducing the recombination of light generated electrons and holes, by converting D° into D+ states. The long-term stability appears to get affected by hydrogen dilution which seems to reduce the amount of “slow” defects. As a result of B doping of i-layer, the initial conversion efficiency of the devices decreases. It is presumed that our devices may contain an enhanced level of boron impurity, than expected, making them as worse material and to degrade less.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 377: Symposium A – Amorphous Silicon Technology 1995 , 1995 , 45
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

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