Abstract
As passivation layer and anti-reflection layer, silicon nitride (SiNx) thin film has been widely used in photovoltaic devices such as solar cells. The structure of SiNx film with uneven thickness distribution can make full use of different wavelengths of sunlight. In this paper, we have studied this structure for the first time. While introducing a quartz layer by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), we obtained a thin SiNx film in the center and gradually thicker toward the edge. The effects of PECVD process parameters, including deposition time, RF power, dielectric layer thickness, etc. on the uneven thickness distribution of SiNx thin film are systematically studied. The film composition changing in the radial direction is also analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This study provides an instructive method for controlling the uneven thickness distribution of SiNx films and plays an important role in using this structure to the solar cell application.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
El Amrani, A., Menous, I., Mahiou, L., Tadjine, R., Touati, A., Lefgoum, A.: Silicon nitride film for solar cells. Renew. Energy 33, 2289 (2008)
Gardeniers, J.G.E., Tilmans, H.A.C., Visser, C.C.G.: LPCVD silicon-rich silicon nitride films for applications in micromechanics, studied with statistical experimental design. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 14, 2879 (1996)
Guler, I.: Optical and structural characterization of silicon nitride thin films deposited by PECVD. Mater. Sci. Eng. B Adv. Funct. Solid State Mater. 246, 21 (2019)
Habraken, F.H.P.M., Kuiper, A.E.T.: Silicon-nitride and oxynitride films. Mater. Sci. Eng. R Rep. 12, 123 (1994)
Kaushik, A., Kahn, H., Heuer, A.H.: Wafer-level mechanical characterization of silicon nitride MEMS. J. Microelectromech. Syst. 14, 359 (2005)
Kawamura, E., Wen, D.Q., Lieberman, M.A., Lichtenberg, A.J.: Effect of a dielectric layer on plasma uniformity in high frequency electronegative capacitive discharges. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 35, 05C311 (2017)
Kim, J.H., Chung, K.W.: Microstructure and properties of silicon nitride thin films deposited by reactive bias magnetron sputtering. J. Appl. Phys. 83, 5831 (1998)
Kishore, R., Singh, S.N., Das, B.K.: Screen printed titanium oxide and PECVD silicon nitride as antireflection coating on silicon solar cells. Renew. Energy 12, 131 (1997)
Kovacevic, G., Pivac, B.: Reactions in silicon-nitrogen plasma. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19, 3826 (2017)
Lee, E.G., Kim, J.H., Ko, H., Kim, C.Y.: The anti-reflection coating using the silicon nitride and silicon monoxide for InP based solar cells. J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 12, 871 (2015)
Lelievre, J.F., Kafle, B., Saint-Cast, P., Brunet, P., Magnan, R., Hernandez, E., Pouliquen, S., Massines, F.: Efficient silicon nitride SiNx:H antireflective and passivation layers deposited by atmospheric pressure PECVD for silicon solar cells. Prog. Photovolt. 27, 1007 (2019)
Mandracci, P., Frascella, F., Rizzo, R., Virga, A., Rivolo, P., Descrovi, E., Giorgis, F.: Optical and structural properties of amorphous silicon-nitrides and silicon-oxycarbides: application of multilayer structures for the coupling of bloch surface waves. J. Non Cryst. Solids 453, 113 (2016)
Merle, B., Goken, M.: Fracture toughness of silicon nitride thin films of different thicknesses as measured by bulge tests. Acta Mater. 59, 1772 (2011)
Nowling, G.R., Babayan, S.E., Jankovic, V., Hicks, R.F.: Remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of silicon nitride at atmospheric pressure. Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 11, 97 (2002)
Richter, A., Benick, J., Feldmann, F., Fell, A., Hermle, M., Glunz, S.W.: N-type Si solar cells with passivating electron contact: identifying sources for efficiency limitations by wafer thickness and resistivity variation. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 173, 96 (2017)
Riley, F.L.: Silicon nitride and related materials. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 83, 245 (2000)
Seo, H., Sakai, T., Ohtake, H., Furuta, M.: Stacked organic photoconductive films and thin-film transistor circuits separated by thin silicon nitride for a color image sensor. In: 2014 IEEE Sensors 1672 (2014)
Signore, M.A., Sytchkova, A., Dimaio, D., Cappello, A., Rizzo, A.: Deposition of silicon nitride thin films by RF magnetron sputtering: a material and growth process study. Opt. Mater. 34, 632 (2012)
Smietana, M., Bock, W.J., Szmidt, J.: Evolution of optical properties with deposition time of silicon nitride and diamond-like carbon films deposited by radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. Thin Solid Films 519, 6339 (2011)
Tong, J., To, A., Lennon, A., Hoex, B.: Unintentional consequences of dual mode plasma reactors: implications for upscaling lab-record silicon surface passivation by silicon nitride. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 56, 08MB12 (2017)
Wan, Y., McIntosh, K.R., Thomson, A.F.: Characterisation and optimisation of PECVD SiNx as an antireflection coating and passivation layer for silicon solar cells. AIP Adv. 3, 032113 (2013)
Zhang, X., Ding, K., Yang, A., Shao, D.: Processing and characterisation of PECVD silicon nitride films. Adv. Mater. Opt. Electron. 6, 147 (1996)
Zhong, Z., Li, Z., Gao, Q., Li, Z., Peng, K., Li, L., Mokkapati, S., Vora, K., Wu, J., Zhang, G., Wang, Z., Fu, L., Tan, H.H., Jagadish, C.: Efficiency enhancement of axial junction InP single nanowire solar cells by dielectric coating. Nano Energy 28, 106 (2016)
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2020YFG0042) and the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices (kFJJ201911).
Funding
As mentioned above,this work was only financially supported by the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province(2020YFG0042) and the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices(KFJJ201911).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Photonics: Current Challenges and Emerging Applications.
Guest edited by Jelena Radovanovic, Dragan Indjin, Maja Nesic, Nikola Vukovic and Milena Milosevic.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhong, Z., Luo, X., Zhou, L. et al. Ellipsometry study on silicon nitride film with uneven thickness distribution by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Opt Quant Electron 55, 264 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-04270-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-04270-x