Impact of solid-phase crystallization of amorphous silicon on the chemical structure of the buried Si/ZnO thin film solar cell interface

Marcus Bär, Maximilian Hannes Wimmer, R. G. Wilks, M. Roczen, Daniel Gerlach, Florian Ruske, K. Lips, B. Rech, L. Weinhardt, M. Blum, S. Pookpanratana, Scott Krause, Y. Zhang, C Heske, W. Yang, J. D. Denlinger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The chemical interface structure between phosphorus-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon and aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films is investigated with soft x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) before and after solid-phase crystallization (SPC) at 600 °C. In addition to the expected SPC-induced phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline silicon, our XES data indicates a pronounced chemical interaction at the buried Si/ZnO interface. In particular, we find an SPC-enhanced formation of Si-O bonds and the accumulation of Zn in close proximity to the interface. For an assumed closed and homogeneous SiO2 interlayer, an effective thickness of (5±2) nm after SPC could be estimated.

Original languageEnglish
Article number072105
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume97
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Aug 2010
Externally publishedYes

Cite this