The efficiency of thin-film solar cells using a-Si:H is limited by the decrease in a-Si:H layer optical path length and its poor light absorption at red and NIR wavelengths. Metal NP such as Au have been shown to increase the absorption in the active material and then cell performances, by exhibiting localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonances. Our work’s goal is to understand NP influence in such cells, to perform an optimal structure by increasing the amount of light absorbed within the cell using NP scattering and luminescence. Modeling based on Mie theory is first carried out using bulk Palik data for Au spheres with various diameters and refractive medium indexes. Using modeling parameters, Au layers were deposited on glass and SnO2 substrates respectively by thermal evaporation in vacuum and sputtering, followed by thermal annealing (200 ∼ 500°C) in order to promote the NP growth. MEB pictures show quasispherical Au NP shape with a mean size of 150nm. This diameter range switches extinction of NP in scattering regime. Annealing temperature (T) strongly affects the NP morphology. Surface coverage decreases and sphericity appears to increase with T. UV-Visible spectroscopy displays distinct LSP resonances around 600nm after annealing with a red shift while T increases.

Thermally grown SiO2 was implanted at room temperature with 220 keV Kr in order to generate bubbles/cavities in the sample. The formation and thermal stability of these bubbles/cavities is studied in this work. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) and Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) were used to provide a comprehensive characterisation of defects (bubbles, vacancy, Kr and other types of defects) created by Kr implantation in SiO2 layer. These measurements suggest that the bubbles observed with TEM were a consequence of the interaction between Kr and vacancies (V), with VnXem complexes created in the whole of implanted zone. After annealing, bubbles/cavities disappear from SiO2 due to the strongly desorption of Kr and the decrease in vacancy concentration.

To weight the importance of a nanocavity buffer in a SiGe deposition substrate, some P type (001) FZ Si wafers are implanted (A samples) or not (B samples) at room temperature with 5×1016 He+ cm–2 at 10keV. They are annealed at 700°C for one hour to form a nanocavity layer close to the Si surface. Then, the wafers are carefully chemically cleaned in a clean room to remove both organic and metallic impurities from the surface. They are coated either by 210 nm (A) or 430 nm (B) Si1−xGex (x=0.20±0.02) alloy grown at 575°C for 0.42 hour by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LP-CVD) with a growth rate of 8 to 17 nm.mn−1. Both kinds of samples are studied by cross section transmission electron microscopy, X-rays diffraction, Rutherford backscattering, atomic force microscopy and etch pit counts. The association of these techniques demonstrates that the thin SiGe layer which is deposited on sample A is fully relaxed and that the threading dislocation density (estimated to hardly reach 4×103cm−2) is at least one order of magnitude lower than what is obtained so far using ion implantation assistance in SiGe layer growth on Silicon. The roughness of the SiGe surface is low enough to stand a further Si epitaxy. Nevertheless, the mechanism involved responsible for the threading dislocation annihilation and/or confinement is still unclear.

High resolution transmission electron microscopy observations show for the first time the presence of two orientations of pure silver precipitates in nanocavities induced in bulk silicon by implantation at 1.6 MeV with a dose of 5×1016 He+ cm−2 and a two hour annealing at 1050°C. These precipitates were called A and B to refer to the two well-known nickel silicide (NiSi2) precipitates or Ag films on a {111} silicon surface. Thus, the A precipitate corresponds to a growth of silver nanocrystal on {111} cavity walls in epitaxy with the Si matrix with an orientation relationship Ag(-111)[211]||Si(-111)[211]. The B precipitate develops on a {111} plane parallel to a {111} cavity wall as well, but in a twin orientation with respect to the Si matrix defined by Ag(-111)[211]||Si(-111)[-2-1-1]. The Ag nanocrystals have a size ranging from a few nm to 50 nm. Most of them have the faceted-shape characteristic of “clean” cavities. They are either A precipitates or they contain alternatively A and B bands in good agreement with both the low stacking fault energy of silver and the two types of nanocrystal orientations obtained by Ag deposition on (111) Si substrate at room temperature. Some Ag precipitates were also found at dislocations located at the He+ projection range, but these trapping sites were found thermally unstable as compared to the cavity ones. Indeed, during a second identical annealing, the precipitates grow in cavities whereas they fade at dislocations.

Silicon samples were implanted with He+ ions at energies varying from 10keV to 1.55MeV using doses ranging from 1.45×1016 cm-2 to 5×1016cm-2 to obtain similar He concentration at each projection range (Rp). In few samples, gold, platinum, nickel or silver was introduced prior to He+ implantation by diffusion at temperatures ranging from 870°C to 1050°C. All samples were annealed in the 400°C–1050°C temperature range to determine the equilibrium stage of the growth of the cavity. The cavity characteristics (distribution, shape and size) were studied by cross section transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). Their morphology demonstrates the validity of the chemisorption hypothesis when they grow in silicon intentionally contaminated by metal. A consequence of the surface proximity on the cavity characteristics was verified and allows stepping forward two regimes of cavity growth: one, very fast, taking place in a He-free environment and another one, slower, occurring in a He-rich atmosphere.

Silicon samples were implanted with He ions at 1.6 MeV using doses ranging from 1×1016 cm-2 to 1×1017cm-2 with different fluxes (0.4νA/cm2 - 2.0νA/cm2) and annealed at high (1000°C) and low temperatures (800°C). The implantation induced-defect structure and their distribution in the depth of the sample were studied by cross section electron microscopy (XTEM). An unexpected consequence of the flux on the defect population and density was found solely for 2×1016 cm-2, which is the upper threshold to get nano-bubbles at such large implantation depth. Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) were performed to measure the ratio of He remaining in the bubbles as a function of time and temperature anneal. Some samples were gold or nickel diffused at temperatures ranging from 870°C to 1050°C prior to He implantation. The gettering efficiency of the implantation-induced defects was measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), after a high temperature getter annealing. SIMS profiles exhibit a shape and a width closely related to the presence of the defects (observed by XTEM) which are very efficient sinks for all kinds of metal impurities. The bubbles were found to be more efficient traps than the dislocation loops.

1.6 MeV He+ ions were implanted at room temperature into (0001) 4H-SiC at a dose of 1×1017 cm−2 and then annealed at 1500°C for 30 min. Small bubbles are readily observed in the as-implanted sample but also an amorphous layer. After a 1500°C annealing, recrystallization of the amorphous state occurs and large bubbles or cavities are observed. However their shape strongly depends of their location inside the buried layer. The recrystallization consists of polytypisme, 4H-SiC growth along the c-direction from the substrate, columnar 4H-SiC and epitaxial growth of 3C-SiC.