Papers by Keyword: Diffusion Length

Abstract: Technical analysis of the performance optimization of nanospintronics devices based on carbonaceous materials has been presented in this paper. Mathematical formulation of the nanospintronics devices and a brief theory of these devices have been briefly discussed. A qualitative review of some of important nanospintronics based devices has also been given. The paper is expected to be useful to the new entrants in this exciting field, and also for the designers of some novel devices based on use of carbonaceous materials in nanospintronics.

Abstract: Commercial 4H-SiC p⁺n structures with an uncompensated donor concentration (N_d-N_a) of ~1.5∙10¹⁵ cm^-3 in the n-type epitaxial layer are studied. The measurement of the photocurrent, electron beam induced current and transient switching characteristics (from forward to reverse voltage), altogether showed that the value of the hole diffusion length, about 2 μm at room temperature, increases to at least 7 μm at 620 K.

Abstract: A series of aluminium doped (from 2×10¹⁶ to 8×10¹⁹ cm^-3) 4H-SiC epitaxial layers were mainly studied by Low Temperature Photoluminescence and time-resolved optical pump-probe techniques to determine the concentration of aluminium, its activation ratio, the doping related carrier lifetime, hole mobility and excess carrier diffusion length.

Abstract: A selective emitter structure is a promising approach to improve the cell efficiency of industrial type silicon solar cells by minimizing the losses at the front surface and in the emitter. Selective emitters can be produced by numerous processing sequences, resulting in different doping profiles. This paper focuses on the analysis of emitter formation for bifacial solar cell application. In this research, liquid phosphorus oxy-trichloride (POCl₃) has been used as a diffusion source for emitter formation. The diffusion temperature was varied from 800 to 900 °C in order to determine an optimum diffusion profile. In this study, the mask-free diffusion process forms diffused emitter on both side of Si wafer. In order to determine the emitter characteristics, the sheet resistance of Si wafer after POCl₃ diffusion process was measured using a four-point probe. Based on the sheet resistance value of ~47 ohm/sq, the emitter has been classified as heavily-doped emitter. The performance analysis using surface photovoltage (SPV) and spectral response presents a diffusion length of 2.19 μm. The POCl₃-diffusion and screen printed Al-BSF led to bifacial solar cells with a front surface efficiency of 12.8 % and back surface efficiency of 5.08 %.

Abstract: The properties of electron-beam crystallized, large-grained silicon layers of about 10 µm thickness on glass have been studied by combining EBIC, EBSD and photoluminescence. It is found that most grains are free of dislocations. From a detailed analysis based on the dependence of EBIC collection efficiency on beam energy we conclude that the recombination properties of the layers are mainly determined by the bulk diffusion length. The estimated bulk diffusion length in the dislocation-free layer regions is in the range of roughly 5 – 7 µm, depending on the recombination velocity assumed for the rear surface. In dislocated regions the diffusion length drops to 1 µm or less. Close to some twin boundaries, an unsusual improvement of the electrical layer properties has been observed. In addition, wave-like inhomogeneities of the layer properties have been established, resulting probably from instabilities during the crystallization process.

Abstract: In this paper, the influence of the gettering treatment on the distribution of diffusion length of minority charge carriers in multicrystalline silicon has been investigated. For the calculation of the parameters of diffusion length distribution, a new method has been proposed based on the mathematical treatment of experimentally measured integrated spectra of surface photovoltage measured by capacitor method (capacitor photovoltage). Obtained results show not only the increase of the average diffusion length as a result of used gettering procedure, but also the decrease of inhomogeneity of its distribution.

Abstract: The relatively new “thin-film polycrystalline-silicon (pc-Si) (grain size of 0.1-100 µm) solar cell on foreign substrate” technology aims at low-cost devices with energy conversion efficiencies above 12 %. A very promising technique to obtain thin pc-Si layers is aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC). Solar cell absorber layers can be made by epitaxial thickening of these AIC seed layers. So far, we have reached energy conversion efficiencies of up to 8% with this approach. In contrast to what is expected a performance independent of the grain size is found which is explained by the presence of intragrain defects. In this paper the electrical activity of both the intragrain defects as well as the grain boundaries is investigated with electron beam induced current (EBIC) measurements before and after hydrogen plasma passivation. Metal-insulator-semiconductor contacts were used as collecting junction to eliminate the interference of the junction shape with the EBIC measurement as found when diffused emitters where used. It is shown that both grain boundaries and intragrain defects are electrically active before and after hydrogen plasma passivation. Finally we argue that Leff,mono, the diffusion length inside the grains, is probably much closer to 1µm in our layers than equal to 100µm as often expected in the literature.

Abstract: Simulation of contrast for small spherical defects in the X-ray beam-induced current (XBIC) mode has been carried out. Under simulations the excess carrier generation function is described by the rigid cylinder with the constant generation rate inside it. The dependence of maximum contrast value on the precipitate depth, diffusion length and effective beam radius is calculated. The XBIC contrast profile as a function of diffusion length, of beam radius and of precipitate depth has been calculated that allows to evaluate the spatial resolution of the technique. The results obtained are compared with those calculated for the EBIC contrast of the same defect. It is shown that in the semiconductor materials with the small diffusion length the XBIC contrast could be comparable with the EBIC one.

Abstract: The achievement of nuclear detectors in Silicon Carbide imposes severe constraints on the electronic quality and thickness of the material due to the relatively high value of the energy required to generate an electron-hole pair (7.8 eV) in this material compared to the value for Si (3.6 eV). In this work, 4H-SiC charged particle detectors were realised using epitaxial layers of n-type doping as active region. The thickness of the epilayer is always below 80 μm with a net doping concentration in the range of 8 x 1013 to 1016 cm-3. These properties allowed the fabrication of Schottky diodes that operate well as radiation detectors. At low doping concentration, the epilayer is totally depleted at quite low reverse bias (≈ 50 V), thereby obtaining the maximum active volume.

Abstract: The detector structures based on Al ion-implanted p+-n junctions in 4H-SiC have been manufactured and tested at temperatures up to 170oC by α-particles with energies of 3.9 and 5.5 MeV. Structural peculiarities of thin Al high dose ion implanted layers before and after short high temperature activation annealing were studied by combination of Rutherford back scattering/channeling spectrometry and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The detector structures fabricated on this thin ion implanted p+-n junctions operated in the temperature range of 16-170 oC with reproducible stable spectrometric characteristics. The charge collection efficiency and the energy resolution of detectors improved with rising temperature up to 170 oC, that was obtained in SiC detectors for the first time.