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Influence of the growth temperature on the spectral dependence of the optical functions associated with thin silicon films grown by ultra-high-vacuum evaporation on optical quality fused quartz substrates

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Abstract

Following up on some recent work that has been presented (Orapunt et al., J Appl Phys 119:065702-1-12, 2016), we report on the optical properties associated with a unique form of thin-film silicon that has been deposited onto optical quality fused quartz substrates through ultra-high-vacuum evaporation. For the purposes of this particular analysis, we focus on how the growth temperature influences the spectral dependence of the optical functions associated with these thin silicon films, for growth temperatures ranging from 98 to 572 °C. Through measurements of the specular reflectance spectrum at near normal incidence and the regular transmittance spectrum at normal incidence, we determine the spectral dependence of the refractive index, the extinction coefficient, the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, and the optical absorption coefficient for the 11 thin silicon films considered in this analysis. We find that generally the refractive index increases in response to increases in the growth temperature. The optical absorption spectral dependence is also observed to exhibit a fundamental transition in its functional behavior accompanying increases in the growth temperature. Some details, related to recently developed methods employed for the determination of the optical functions from measurements of the reflectance and transmittance spectra, are provided as a complement to this analysis.

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Notes

  1. By “lattice” we are referring to the manner in which the atoms are distributed throughout the material.

  2. The suitability of these thin silicon films for photovoltaic device applications has yet to be fully probed. While the electron spin resonance work of Akbari-Sharbaf et al. [38] and the carrier dynamic work of Titova et al. [39] has shown that similarly prepared thin films of silicon are promising for photovoltaic device applications, light soaking experiments, and other photovoltaic-specific analyzes, have yet to be pursued. These will have to be performed in the future if the photovoltaic potential of this material is to be realized.

  3. The apparently anomalous behavior observed in the reflectance spectra, where the measured reflectance of the thin silicon film coating is less than that associated with the bare optical quality fused quartz substrate, can be explained if the optical thickness of the thin-films at these particular wavelengths is such that destructive interference occurs. In this situation, the thin-film behaves like an anti-reflection coating, where the reflectance is diminished and the throughput (transmittance) is increased compared with the bare optical quality fused quartz substrate.

  4. There is evidence to suggest that there are inhomogeneities that occur in the optical properties as one goes deeper into a given thin-film, these inhomogeneities reflecting the structural inhomogeneities that are present. In effect, a given thin-film may be thought of as being comprised of a stack of thin-film layers, each layer within such a stack having its own optical properties. These differences become magnified the thicker the thin-film, the thin-films grown at 98 \(^{\circ }\)C exhibiting large differences in their thicknesses when contrasted with those grown at the other growth temperatures; recall Table 1.

  5. In contrast, for the case of PD-a-Si, O’Leary [55] demonstrated that there is a fundamental discontinuity in the optical absorption spectrum as the disorderless limit is approached.

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Acknowledgements

Three of the authors (S.M., F.O., and S.K.O.) wish to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and MITACS for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Saeed Moghaddam & Stephen K. O’Leary

  2. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada

    Farida Orapunt

  3. Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6, Canada

    Mario Noël, Joanne C. Zwinkels & David J. Lockwood

  4. Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6, Canada

    Jean-Marc Baribeau

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  1. Saeed Moghaddam
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Correspondence to Stephen K. O’Leary.

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Moghaddam, S., Orapunt, F., Noël, M. et al. Influence of the growth temperature on the spectral dependence of the optical functions associated with thin silicon films grown by ultra-high-vacuum evaporation on optical quality fused quartz substrates. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 13186–13198 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03870-1

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