OPTICAL AND ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HYDROGENATED NANOCRYSTALLINE SILICON FILMS

摘要

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) is a very promising material for photovoltaicapplications. Notwithstanding its wide application as the intrinsic layer in solar cells, many issues regarding itselectronic and optical properties are not completely understood.The present contribution aims to report on electrical and optical characterization of nanocrystalline Si thin filmsgrown by low energy plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (LEPECVD) as starting material for Si based thinfilm solar cells. Optical and electrical properties were studied in order to understand the role played by electroniclevels associated with defect states and to study the electrical conduction mechanisms at the nanoscale. Optical andelectrical characterizations were carried out by surface photovolage spectroscopy (SPS) and conductive atomic forcemicroscopy (C-AFM), respectively.