Wide optical bandgap p-type μc-Si:Ox:H prepared by Cat-CVD and comparisons to p-type μc-Si:H

Oxygen-impurity boron-doped hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (p-μc-Si:O_x:H) films have been deposited using catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD). Pure silane (SiH₄), hydrogen (H₂), oxygen (O₂), and diluted diborane (B₂H₆) gases were used. The tungsten catalyst temperature (T_fil) was varied from 1900 to 2100 °C and films were deposited on glass substrates at temperatures of 100 to 300 °C. Different catalyst-to-substrate distances were employed and single- or double-coiled filaments were used. In addition to p-μc-Si:O_x:H deposition, we have also deposited conventional p-type microcrystalline silicon (p-μc-Si:H) in order to compare their electrical and optical properties to p-μc-Si:O_x:H.     

Transport properties of μc-Si:H analyzed by means of numerical simulation

Microcrystalline silicon is a two-phase material. Its composition can be interpreted as grains of crystalline silicon imbedded in an amorphous silicon tissue, with a high concentration of danglind bonds in the transition regions. In this paper, results obtained by means of numerical simulations about the transport properties of a μc-Si:H p-i-n junction are reported. The role played by the boundary regions between the crystalline grains and the amorphous matrix is taken in account, and these regions are treated similarly to a heterojunction interface. The influence of the local electric field at the grains boundary transition regions on the internal electric configuration of the device is outlined under illumination and applied external bias.     

High Rate Growth of a-Si and μc-Si Thin Films with Facing-target PECVD

The first investigation on high rate growth of uniform a-Si and μc-Si thin films with facingtarget plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (FTPECVD) has been presented here. It has been shown that by employing FTPECVD both a-Si and μc-Si thin films can be fabricated with rates of up to 10μm/h and l μm/h, respectively, around 10 times higher than those of the conventional PECVD, and the correspondent gas utility is about 20 times higher. As indicated by Raman spectroscopy measurement, the crystallinity of the materials is as high as 85%. A columnar structure in the films has been revealed by TEM analysis, a reflection of epitaxial growth in the deposition process.     

Optical and structural characterization of inhomogeneities in a-Si:H TO μc-Si transition

The a-Si:H films with different thickness and microstructure have been deposited with rf-PECVD using a plasma of silane diluted with hydrogen. The structure and optical analysis were carried out by X-ray diffraction, UV-VIS and Raman spectroscopy. Spectral refractive indices, optical energy band gaps, extinction coefficients, phases ratio and grain size were determined as a function of the hydrogen dilution (R = H₂/SiH₄). Hydrogen dilution of silane results in an inhomogeneous growth during which the material evolves from amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) to micro-crystalline hydrogenated silicon (μc-Si:H). XRD analysis indicated that films with R = 0 and R = 20 were amorphous and homogeneous, while films with R = 40 and higher were micro-crystalline consisting medium range ordered silicon hydride (Si₄H) and μc-Si phases with different size of crystallites, which was confirmed also by Raman spectroscopy.     

Influence of the deposition pressure on the preparation of μc-Si:H thin films in hot-wire-assisted MWECR-CVD system

Considering the important influence of the deposition pressure on the growth of thin films, such as deposition rate, crystalline volume fraction and density, etc., and based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages on the mono-pressure method, we proposed a new method of high- and low-pressure combination to prepare hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films, i.e. at first we used high pressure to deposit film in 2 min in order to minish the thickness of incubation layer from the amorphous phase transition to crystalline phase, and then used low pressure to deposit film in 18 min to improve the density and decrease the oxidation of the film. The experimental results showed that using this new method the thin film with high crystalline volume fraction of 61% and low light-induced degradation ratio of 5.6% at 210 min was obtained, and meanwhile, it also possessed higher density and better photoelectronic properties than mono-pressure method.     

Improvement of μc-Si:H n-i-p cell efficiency with an i-layer made by hot-wire CVD by reverse H2-profiling

The technique of maintaining a proper crystalline ratio in microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) layers along the thickness direction by decreasing the H₂ dilution ratio during deposition (H₂ profiling) was introduced by several laboratories while optimizing either n-i-p or p-i-n μc-Si:H cells made by PECVD. With this technique a great increase in the energy conversion efficiency was obtained. Compared to the PECVD technique, the unique characteristics of HWCVD, such as the catalytic reactions, the absence of ion bombardment, the substrate heating by the filaments and filament aging effects, necessitate a different strategy for device optimization. We report in this paper the result of our method of using a reverse H₂ profiling technique, i.e. increasing the H₂ dilution ratio instead of decreasing it, to improve the performance of μc-Si:H n-i-p cells with an i-layer made by HWCVD. The principle behind this technique is thought to be a compensation effect for the influence of progressing silicidation of the filaments during the growth of μc-Si:H, if the filament current is held constant during growth. The dependence of the material crystallinity on thickness with and without H₂ profiling is discussed and solar cell J-V parameters are presented. Thus far, the best efficiency of μc-Si:H n-i-p cells made on a stainless steel substrate with an Ag/ZnO textured back reflector made in house has been improved to 8.5%, which is the highest known efficiency obtained for n-i-p cells with a hot-wire μc-Si:H i-layer.     

High efficiency a-Si:H/a-Si:H solar cell with a tunnel recombination junction and a n-type μc-Si:H layer

In this paper, a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cells have been fabricated using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The solar cell has a structure of glass/textured-SnO₂/p-a-SiC:H/i-a-Si:H/n-μc-Si:H/p-μc-Si:H/p-a-SiC:H/i-a-Si:H/n-μc-Si:H/gallium-doped zinc oxide/Ag. Higher efficiency in a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cells can be achieved by use of a good tunnel recombination junction (TRJ) and current matching. Accordingly, solar cells with a n-μc-Si:H/p-μc-Si:H TRJ are investigated. This paper studies the influence of the thickness of the top intrinsic amorphous silicon (i-a-Si:H) layer with regard to short circuit current density and current matching between the top and the bottom cells. Experimental results with lab-fabricated samples show that the optimal thickness of the i-a-Si:H layer in the top and bottom cells is 60 and 250 nm, respectively. An initial conversion efficiency of 10.29% is achieved for the optimized a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cell. Light-induced degradation of the solar cells is about 17%.     

μc-Si:H薄膜的激活能特性研究

通过激活能测试装置测量VHF-PECVD高速沉积的本征微晶硅薄膜的激活能,结果表明:在不同沉积条件下制备的本征微晶硅薄膜,晶化处于非晶-微晶相变域附近,激活能都偏低,存在氧污染问题,研究了氧污染解决途径.     

Structural transformations induced in amorphous free-standing 55wt.%Cr-45wt.%Ni thin films with 2.5 μs (10.6 μm) and 400 μs (0.69 μm) single laser pulses

Experimental results for the pulse laser irradiation of free-standing 55wt.%Cr-45wt.%Ni amorphous thin films with thicknesses ranging from 15 to 60 nm are reported. Transmission electron micrographs and electron diffraction patterns are presented in order to reveal the laser-induced structural transformations.     

Deposition of new microcrystalline materials, μc-SiC, μc-GeC by HWCVD and solar cell applications

This paper describes at first the present status of solar cell efficiencies prepared by Hot Wire CVD (HW-CVD), and then preparation techniques of μc-3C(cubic)-SiC developed for innovative solar cell applications by using HW-CVD method are presented. For preparing μc-3C-SiC, monomethylsilane (MMS) and hydrogen were used for reactant gases. The high conductivity of 5 S/cm could be achieved for N doped n-type μc-3C-SiC. For p-type, as-grown Al-doped μc-3C-SiC films showed a relatively high resistivity, but on thermal annealing, the conductivity increased to the level of 1 × 10^− 2 S/cm. Monomethylgermane (MMG) and H₂ were used to prepare μc-GeC thin films. μc-GeC thin films with a carbon composition of about 7-8% showed a clear shift of absorption coefficient spectra by 0.44 eV, when compared to crystalline Ge. The pin solar cell structures in which all p,i,n layers consist of μc-SiC have been prepared for the first time. It was found that μc-3C-SiC and μc-GeC are the promising candidates as the next generation thin-film solar cell materials, but at present, the film quality is strictly limited by the residual impurity concentration of filament material Re.     

Anisotropy in μ* for superconducting aluminum

Using two models for an anisotropic Coulomb pseudopotential parameter *(k), we have calculated approximate upper and lower limits for the anisotropic gap edge of superconducting aluminum as a function of wavevector direction over the Fermi surface. We consider all sources of anisotropy, i.e., anisotropic phonon dispersion curves and anisotropic Fermi surface, to determine the electron-phonon spectral functions _k ² ()F _k() and the matrix elements of the screened Coulomb repulsion. We find values of the gap anisotropy parameter a² and of the ratio between the pure single-crystal and isotropic dirty limit critical temperatures that agree better with experimental results than the values found using a constant *. Disagreement between theory and experiment remains for the variation of _o(k) itself over the Fermi surface.     

Further results on μ-calorimeters with superconducting absorber

The thermalization process of the energy released by -particles in superconducting crystals used as absorber for -calorimeters is studied for an extended sample of materials at temperatures between 40 and 100 mK.The simple dependence of the thermalization times on T/T_Debye already observed is confirmed. Results on the effect of coatings with Bismuth and Copper on Rhenium are also reported.     

Pulse shaping fiber laser at 1.5 μm

In this paper we present, for the first time to our knowledge, a new pulse shaping technology (modulation schemes for seed laser) used to mitigate pulse narrowing effect and SBS effect in a high energy Er:Yb codoped fiber master oscillator power amplifier system at 1.5 μm to obtain longer pulse duration and higher energy. An average power of over 1.3 W and a pulse energy of over 0.13 mJ were obtained at 10 kHz repetition rate with a pulse duration of 200 ns and near-diffraction-limited beam quality (M(2)<1.2).     

织构ZnO:Al与p-μ c-Si:H薄膜接触特性的研究

用PECVD法在不同织构ZnO:Al上沉积了p-μc-Si:H薄膜,研究了不同织构ZnO:Al与p-μc-Si:H薄膜的接触特性,研究结果表明:在织构后的ZnO:Al上沉积的p-μc-Si:H薄膜的晶化率均大于在未织构的ZnO:Al上沉积的p-μc-Si:H薄膜,且织构ZnO:Al与p-μc-Si:H薄膜的接触电阻也均小于未织构的,且织构时间最佳点为15s。     

4 μm SiC颗粒表面化学镀铜工艺

为了增强微米级SiC陶瓷颗粒与金属基体的结合力,采用化学镀铜法对SiC颗粒表面进行了改性处理,使SiC颗粒在金属基体液中分散更均匀、镀覆更好。通过正交试验法优化了化学镀铜工艺的主要参数,研究了其主要工艺条件对化学镀铜的影响;分别通过JSM7500F,S-3400N扫描电镜(SEM)对微米级SiC颗粒镀铜前后的表观形貌进行了观察分析,利用X射线衍射仪(XRD)对其镀铜前后的组成进行了表征,并测试了镀铜层与SiC颗粒的结合力;同时对比了微米级SiC颗粒镀铜前后对锌基复合材料微观形貌的影响;讨论了镀液中配位剂、pH值、还原剂等对铜镀层的影响。结果表明:随着镀液中配位剂、还原剂含量的增加,单位时间内微米级SiC颗粒表面镀铜层的质量先增加后降低,pH值的升高显著降低了镀铜的诱导时间;可实现微米级SiC颗粒表面化学镀铜层的均匀镀覆,且结合良好。     

μ-EXAFS, μ-XRF, and μ-PL characterization of a multi-quantum-well electroabsorption modulated laser realized via selective area growth

In the past few years, strong efforts have been devoted to improving the frequency of optical-fiber communications. In particular, the use of a special kind of integrated optoelectronic device called an electroabsorption modulated laser (EML) allows communication at 10 Gb s(-1) or higher over long propagation spans (up to 80 km). Such devices are realized using the selective area growth (SAG) technique and are based on a multiple quantum well (MQW) distributed-feedback laser (DFB) monolithically integrated with a MQW electroabsorption modulator (EAM). Since the variation in the chemical composition between these two structures takes place on the micrometer scale, in order to study the spatial variation of the relevant parameters of the MQW EML structures, the X-ray microbeam available at the ESRF ID22 beamline is used. The effectiveness of the SAG technique in modulating the chemical composition of the quaternary alloy is proven by a micrometer-resolved X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) map. Here, reported micrometer-resolved extended X-ray absorption fine structure (μ-EXAFS) spectra represent the state of the art of μ-EXAFS achievable at third-generation synchrotron radiation sources. The results are in qualitative agreement with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micrometer-resolved photoluminescence (μ-PL) data, but a technical improvement is still crucial in order to make μ-EXAFS really quantitative on such complex heterostructures.     

Towards ferrofluidics for μ-TAS and lab on-a-chip applications

In this paper, we show that ferrofluids can be pumped very effectively in closed-channel geometries both in the macro-?and micro-scales using spatially travelling, sinusoidally time-varying magnetic fields. The results from numerical modelling demonstrate that the optimum pumping frequency is the reciprocal of the Brownian relaxation time constant of the magnetic nanoparticles inside the ferrofluid. Since the Brownian time constant depends in part on the overall hydrodynamic volume of the magnetic nanoparticles, this work has been carried with a view to developing functionalized ferrofluids that can be used as sensitive pathogen detectors in the context of ferrohydrodynamic pumping via travelling magnetic fields. A micro-ferrofluidic device has been designed and fabricated in order to demonstrate the potential development of this technology for pathogen detection. A cost-effective fabrication process combining insulated metal substrate etching and soft lithography is used to realize the prototype micro-ferrofluidic device. Results show good agreement between simulation and experiment. We finally propose a ferrofluid-based pathogen detection scheme that is expected to be insensitive to temperature and viscosity differences between the ferrofluid and the sample to be tested.     

AlGaAsSb lasers emitting in the 1.6 μm region

AlGaAsSb lasers with different Al concentrations in the active and confinement regions are fabricated and investigated. The structures lase in the region ∼1.6 μm. The AlGaAsSb solid solution in the active region is a direct-gap material with a small energy separation (∼56 meV) between the direct-gap Γ minimum and the indirect-gap L minimum of the conduction band. The lasers have a single-mode spectrum with a predominant longitudinal mode in the spatial distribution of the emission. The lasers operate at room temperature in a pulsed mode. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 25, 35–41 (May 26, 1999)     

Time-resolved imaging on a realistic tissue phantom: μ(s)' and μ(a) images versus time-integrated images

A method is proposed by which we construct images through turbid media, plotting directly either the transport-scattering coefficient μ(s) ' or the absorption coefficient μ(a). These optical parameters are obtained from the best fit of the time-resolved transmittance curves with a diffusion model. Measurements were performed with a time-correlated single-photon counting system on realistic tissue phantoms simulating a tumor mass within a breast. Images were obtained with an incident power of <1 mW and an acquisition time of 1 s/point. Comparison of μ(s) ' and μ(a) images with time-integrated images constructed from the same experimental data shows that the fitting method discriminates between scattering and absorption inhomogeneities and improves image quality for scattering but not for absorption inhomogeneities.     

Nucleation study of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films deposited by VHF-ICP

Nucleation in the initial stage of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) film deposition by VHF inductivity-coupled plasma (ICP) has been investigated. When the SiH₄ concentration (R_SiH4 = [SiH₄] / ([SiH₄] + [H₂])) is 6%, the crystallization in the initial 1.1-2.4 nm film deposition is observed at the substrate temperature of 320 °C, while it is decreased to 150 °C by reducing the R_SiH4 to 3%. Furthermore, the nucleation is significantly promoted by H₂ plasma pretreatment as long as 90 s prior to μc-Si:H film deposition. The crystallinity was improved from 33 to 54% and the grain density was increased from 8.0 × 10¹⁰ to 1.7 × 10¹¹ cm^− 2 by the pretreatment. We confirmed no significant change in SiO₂ surface micro roughness after the H₂ plasma pretreatment. The chemical bond states at the SiO₂ surface before film deposition play an important role in nucleation.