Novel process for low temperature crystallization of a-SiC:H for optoelectronic applications

Metal-induced crystallization (MIC) process was employed to crystallize hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films deposited by PECVD on n-type Si substrate. To optimize the crystallization process, Aluminum thin films of different thicknesses were deposited on a-SiC:H films which were then annealed at 600 °C in N₂ environment for 1 h. UV–visible spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and hall measurement system were used to characterize the films. It was observed from the UV–visible spectrum that the films crystallized using higher Al thickness show absorption in the visible range whereas the samples crystallized with lower Al thickness did not show absorption in the visible range but shows large absorption above the bandgap of the material. Considering UV–visible and Hall measurement data it can be concluded that the sample crystallized with 50 nm of Al can be a good candidate for SiC–Si hetero-junction solar cells.