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Effect of hydrogen on surface texturing and crystallization of a-Si:H thin film irradiated by excimer laser

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Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films have been considered for use in solar cell applications because of their significantly reduced cost compared to crystalline bulk silicon. However, their overall efficiency and stability are lower than that of their bulk crystalline counterpart. Limited work has been performed on simultaneously solving the efficiency and stability issues of a-Si:H. Previous work has shown that surface texturing and crystallization on a-Si:H thin film can be achieved through a single-step laser processing, which can potentially alleviate the disadvantages of a-Si:H in solar cell applications. In this study, hydrogenated and dehydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films deposited on glass substrates were irradiated by KrF excimer laser pulses and the effect of hydrogen on surface morphologies and microstructures is discussed. Sharp spikes are focused only on hydrogenated films, and the large-grained and fine-grained regions caused by two crystallization processes are also induced by presence of hydrogen. Enhanced light absorptance is observed due to light trapping based on surface geometry changes of a-Si:H films, while the formation of a mixture of nanocrystalline silicon and original amorphous silicon after crystallization suggests that the overall material stability can potentially improve. The relationship between crystallinity, fluence and number of pulses is also investigated. Furthermore, a step-by-step crystallization process is introduced to prevent the hydrogen from diffusing out in order to reduce the defect density, and the relationship between residue hydrogen concentration, fluence and step width is discussed. Finally, the combined effects show that the single-step process of surface texturing and step-by-step crystallization induced by excimer laser processing are promising for a-Si:H thin-film solar cell applications.

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Acknowledgements

Research carried out in part at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886. The use of material characterization equipment at Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Columbia University, is gratefully acknowledged. The authors also would like to thank Prof. Vijay Modi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, and Prof. Jeffrey M. Gordon, Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for the helpful discussions and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Hongliang Wang & Y. Lawrence Yao

  2. Department of Applied Physics, University of Vigo, Vigo, 36310, Spain

    Fernando Lusquiños

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  1. Hongliang Wang
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  2. Fernando Lusquiños
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Correspondence to Hongliang Wang.

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Wang, H., Lusquiños, F. & Yao, Y.L. Effect of hydrogen on surface texturing and crystallization of a-Si:H thin film irradiated by excimer laser. Appl. Phys. A 107, 307–320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-6843-4

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