MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION OF HYDROGENATED SILICON THIN-FILMS AT DIFFERENT HYDROGEN INCORPORATION

This paper describes the microstructure evolution of hydrogenated sili con films containing various amounts of hydrogen, Microcrystalline sil icon films were produced when the hydrogen content of the films was ad justed by using the diluted-hydrogen methods. Polycrystalline silicon films having grain sizes in the micrometer range were deposited at low temperature (250 degrees C) by ECR-CVD with the hydrogen-dilution met hod. The microcrystalline and polycrystalline films were characterized by NMR, FTIR, Raman, X-ray and optical spectroscopy and electrical me asurements, The results evaluate the possibility of even larger grain silicon films suitable for high performance solar cells which avoid th e fundamental difficulties of amorphous Si:H solar cells.