[Some symbols cannot be rendered in the following metadata – please see the PDF file for an accurate version of the Abstract] ¶ Recombination within the bulk and at the surfaces of crystalline silicon has been investigated in this thesis. Special attention has been paid to the surface passivation achievable with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited (PECVD) silicon nitride (SiN) films due to their potential for widespread use in silicon solar cells. The passivation obtained with thermally grown silicon oxide (SiO2) layers has also been extensively investigated for comparison. ¶ Injection-level dependent lifetime measurements have been used throughout this thesis to quantify the different recombination rates in silicon. New techniques for interpreting the effective lifetime in terms of device characteristics have been introduced, based on the physical concept of a net photogeneration rate. The converse relationships for determining the effective lifetime from measurements of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) under arbitrary illumination have also been introduced, thus establishing the equivalency of the photoconductance and voltage techniques, both quasi-static and transient, by allowing similar possibilities for all of them. ¶ The rate of intrinsic recombination in silicon is of fundamental importance. It has been investigated as a function of injection level for both n-type and p-type silicon, for dopant densities up to ~5x1016cm-3. Record high effective lifetimes, up to 32ms for high resistivity silicon, have been measured. Importantly, the wafers where commercially sourced and had undergone significant high temperature processing. A new, general parameterisation has been proposed for the rate of band-to-band Auger recombination in crystalline silicon, which accurately fits the experimental lifetime data for arbitrary injection level and arbitrary dopant density. The limiting efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells has been re-evaluated using this new parameterisation, with the effects of photon recycling included. ¶ Surface recombination processes in silicon solar cells are becoming progressively more important as industry drives towards thinner substrates and higher cell efficiencies. The surface recombination properties of well-passivating SiN films on p-type and n-type silicon have been comprehensively studied, with Seff values as low as 1cm/s being unambiguously determined. The well-passivating SiN films optimised in this thesis are unique in that they are stoichiometric in composition, rather than being silicon rich, a property which is attributed to the use of dilute silane as a process gas. A simple physical model, based on recombination at the Si/SiN interface being determined by a high fixed charge density within the SiN film (even under illumination), has been proposed to explain the injection-level dependent Seff for a variety of differently doped wafers. The passivation obtained with the optimised SiN films has been compared to that obtained with high temperature thermal oxides (FGA and alnealed) and the limits imposed by surface recombination on the efficiency of SiN passivated solar cells investigated. It is shown that the optimised SiN films show little absorption of UV photons from the solar spectrum and can be easily patterned by photolithography and wet chemical etching. ¶ The recombination properties of n+ and p+ emitters passivated with optimised SiN films and thermal SiO2 have been extensively studied over a large range of emitter sheet resistances. Both planar and random pyramid textured surfaces were studied for n+ emitters, where the optimised SiN films were again found to be stoichiometric in composition. The optimised SiN films provided good passivation of the heavily doped n+-Si/SiN interface, with the surface recombination velocity increasing from 1400cm/s to 25000cm/s as the surface concentration of electrically active phosphorus atoms increased from 7.5x1018cm-3 to 1.8x1020cm-3. The optimised SiN films also provided reasonable passivation of industrial n+ emitters formed in a belt-line furnace. It was found that the surface recombination properties of SiN passivated p+ emitters was poor and was worst for sheet resistances of ~150./ . The hypothesis that recombination at the Si/SiN interface is determined by a high fixed charge density within the SiN films was extended to explain this dependence on sheet resistance. The efficiency potential of SiN passivated n+p cells has been investigated, with a sheet resistance of 80-100./ and a base resistivity of 1-2.cm found to be optimal. Open-circuit voltages of 670-680mV and efficiencies up to ~20% and ~23% appear possible for SiN passivated planar and textured cells respectively. The recombination properties measured for emitters passivated with SiO2, both n+ and p+, were consistent with other studies and found to be superior to those obtained with SiN passivation. ¶ Stoichiometric SiN films were used to passivate the front and rear surfaces of various solar cell structures. Simplified PERC cells fabricated on 0.3.cm p-type silicon, with either a planar or random pyramid textured front surface, produced high Voc’s of 665-670mV and conversion efficiencies up to 19.7%, which are amongst the highest obtained for SiN passivated solar cells. Bifacial solar cells fabricated on planar, high resistivity n-type substrates (20.cm) demonstrated Voc’s up to 675mV, the highest ever reported for an all-SiN passivated cell, and excellent bifaciality factors. Planar PERC cells fabricated on gettered 0.2.cm multicrystalline silicon have also demonstrated very high Voc’s of 655-659mV and conversion efficiencies up to 17.3% using a single layer anti-reflection coating. Short-wavelength internal quantum efficiency measurements confirmed the excellent passivation achieved with the optimised stoichiometric SiN films on n+ emitters, while long-wavelength measurements show that there is a loss of short-circuit current at the rear surface of SiN passivated p-type cells. The latter loss is attributed to parasitic shunting, which arises from an inversion layer at the rear surface due to the high fixed charge (positive) density in the SiN layers. It has been demonstrated that that a simple way to reduce the impact of the parasitic shunt is to etch away some of the silicon from the rear contact dots. An alternative is to have locally diffused p+ regions under the rear contacts, and a novel method to form a rear structure consisting of a local Al-BSF with SiN passivation elsewhere, without using photolithography, has been demonstrated.

Understanding the mechanisms for fatigue crack initiation and propagation in micron-scale silicon (Si) is of great importance to assess and improve the reliability of Si based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in harsh environments. Accordingly, this investigation studies the fatigue properties of 10-micron-thick single-crystal Si (SCSi) films using kHz-frequency resonating structures under fully-reversed loading. Overall, the stress plays a major role on the fatigue properties: decreasing the stress amplitude from ~3-3.5 GPa to ~1.5-2 GPa results in an increase in lifetime from 10² to 10¹⁰ cycles, and a decrease in degradation rate by 4-5 orders of magnitude. In addition to stress, the influences of resonant frequency (4 vs. 40 kHz) and environment (30°C, 50%RH vs. 80°C, 30%RH and 80°C, 90%RH) on the resulting S-N curves and resonant frequency evolution are thoroughly investigated. In the high- to very high-cycle fatigue (HCF/VHCF) regime, both the frequency and environment strongly affect the fatigue properties. Damage accumulation rates are significantly higher in harsh environments. In 80°C, 90%RH the rates exceed by one to two orders of magnitude the values at 30°C, 50%RH for similar stress amplitudes. The separate influence of humidity, affecting the adsorbed water layer thickness, is also highlighted at 80°C: the decrease rates are measured up to one order of magnitude lower at 30%RH than at 90%RH. Moreover, a strong influence of frequency is detected. These observations bring further evidence supporting reaction-layer fatigue as a viable description of the HCF/VHCF behavior of micron-scale Si.

In recent years, Silicon Photonics has emerged as a promising technology for cost-effective fabrication of photonic components and integrated circuits, the application of which is recently expanding in technological fields beyond tele- and data-communications, such as sensing and biophotonics. Compact, energy-efficient laser sources with precise wavelength control are crucial for the aforementioned applications. However, practical, efficient, electrically-pumped lasers on Silicon or other group IV elements are still absent, owing to the indirect bandgap of those materials. Consequently, the integration of III-V compounds on Silicon currently appears to be the most viable route to the realization of such lasers. In this thesis, I present and explore the potential of an External Cavity (EC) hybrid III-V/Silicon laser design, comprising a III-V-based Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (RSOA) and a Silicon reflector chip, based on a two-dimensional Photonic Crystal (PhC) cavity vertically coupled to a low-refractive-index dielectric waveguide. The vertically coupled system functions as a wavelength-selective reflector, determining the lasing wavelength. Based on this architecture mW-level continuous-wave (CW) lasing at room temperature was shown both in a fiber-based long cavity scheme and die-based short cavity scheme, with SMSR of > 25 dB and > 40 dB, respectively. Furthermore, by electrically modulating the refractive index of the PhC cavity in the reflector chip, tuning of the emitted wavelength was achieved in the die-based short cavity EC laser configuration. In this way, I demonstrated the suitability of the examined EC configuration for direct frequency modulation. The proposed scheme eliminates the need for wavelength matching between the laser source and a resonant modulator, and reveals the potential of employing low-power-consumption resonant modulation in practical Silicon Photonics applications.

Orientador: Jacobus Willibrordus Swart / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T22:45:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dias_GuilhermeOsvaldo_D.pdf: 3822925 bytes, checksum: 25e0dd51fed5d5d3cb7dc334a0a61bb7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Analisamos amostras de óxido de silício rico em silício (SRSO) obtidas por um sistema de deposição química de vapor com ressonância ciclotrônica de elétrons (ECR-CVD). Propriedades estruturais, de composição, ópticas e elétricas foram estudadas por transformada de Fourier de absorção no infravermelho (FTIR), microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (TEM), espectroscopia de retro-espalhamento Rutherford (RBS), fotoluminescência (PL), elipsometria e medidas de capacitância-tensão (C-V). Através do ajuste dos índices de refração em função do fluxo de O2 para uma longa faixa de razões de fluxo, pudemos notar que o sistema ECR-CVD permite obter filmes com alto controle desses índices de refração. Isto sugere indiretamente a possibilidade do controle das características ópticas e elétricas dos nossos filmes, pois essas características, assim como o índice de refração, são dependentes da concentração de silício nos filmes. Na região de concentração de interesse em nosso trabalho, a razão de concentração atômica O/Si obtida por RBS correlaciona-se linearmente com o índice de refração. As intensidades e posições dos picos de PL e as curvas de histereses observadas através de medidas C-V, após os tratamentos térmicos, dependem das razões de fluxo O2/SiH4 utilizadas na deposição. Observamos que temperatura e tempo de tratamento térmico têm forte influência nas propriedades de PL das amostras selecionadas. No entanto, a influência destes parâmetros sobre as propriedades elétricas (C-V) não é tão significativa, principalmente para temperaturas de tratamentos acima de 1000 ºC. As propriedades de PL e C-V puderam ser relacionadas com a presença de nanoestruturas de silício imersas nos filmes SRSO, sendo que defeitos do tipo NBOHC e ODC, típicos do óxido de Si, também têm influência sobre essas propriedades. Comparando os dados de PL e FTIR de nossas amostras, bem como dados da literatura, concluímos que a cristalinidade das nanoestruturas de Si tem forte influência sobre a intensidade de PL. Por outro lado, a cristalinidade influencia muito pouco na capacidade de armazenamento de carga, como verificado pelas curvas de histerese nas medidas C-V. Assim, as características ópticas e elétricas de nossas amostras estão associadas principalmente à presença de nanoestruturas de silício dentro da matriz de óxido de Si. Nossas amostras demonstram alta potencialidade para aplicação em dispositivos optoeletrônicos e nanoeletrônicos. / Abstract: In this work we have analyzed samples of Silicon Rich Silicon Oxide (SRSO) obtained by an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Chemical Vapor Deposition system (ECR-CVD). Structural, compositional, electrical and optical properties were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), capacitance-voltage (C-V), photoluminescence (PL) and ellipsometry. By fitting a long range refractive indices curve as a function of O2 flow, it can be seem that the ECR-CVD system is able to produce films with high control on the refractive indices, which, indirectly, suggest the possibility of control of the optical and electrical characteristics, since all these characteristics are dependent of Si concentration in the film, as refractive index. Into the region of interest for our work, the atomic concentration ratio O/Si obtained by RBS correlates linearly with the refractive indeces. The PL intensities and peak positions and the hysteresis curves observed by C-V characterizations, after thermal treatments, show dependence on O2/SiH4 flow ratios used in the work. We observed that temperature and time of thermal treatments have strong influence on PL properties of the selected samples. Nevertheless, the influence of these same parameters on electrical properties (C-V) are less significant than for PL properties, mainly for temperatures above 1000 oC. The PL and CV characteristics of our samples can be related to the presence of silicon nanostructures embedded inside SRSO films. On the other hand, typical silicon oxide defects, like NBOHC and ODC, have some influence on such optical and electrical properties. Comparing our PL and FTIR data, as well as data from literature, we can suppose that crystallinity has strong influence on PL intensity. On the other hand, crystallinity has just a weak influence on the charge storage capacity of our samples, as we had seen by the hysteresis curves in C-V measurements for samples treated at 1100 oC and 1150 oC. Finally, we conclude that optical and electrical characteristics of our samples are associated principally to the presence of silicon nanostructures embedded in a silicon oxide matrix. Our samples showed high potentiality to applications as optoelectronic and nanoelectronic devices. / Doutorado / Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica / Doutor Engenharia Elétrica

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Birefringence has been used to study transparent materials since 1815, and is based on the decomposition of a polarized ray of light into two distinct rays when passing through an optically anisotropic material. This thesis uses this phenomenon in a study of phase retardation in crystalline materials. Single and multicrystalline silicon was chosen as the model material. Silicon is an interesting and important material in its own right, and the use of photoelasticity to determine stresses at linear and planar defects can have important consequences in the electrical performance of devices such as electronics and photovoltaic cells. This thesis presents the results of an experimental investigation of residual stresses in multicrystalline silicon wafers using near-infrared (NIR) transmission photoelasticity. NIR transmission through multicrystalline silicon is found to vary with crystallographic orientation and relate to planar atomic density, enabling the assignment of appropriate stress-optic coefficients to different grains. Noise in the data is reduced with the Ramji and Ramesh 10-step phase shifting algorithm when compared to the Patterson and Wang process. Normal stresses at points of zero maximum shear stress can be characterized based on isoclinic behavior around the point. Points at which all normal stresses are zero serve as boundary conditions for shear difference integration and allow for stress separation from a point that is not a free boundary. The second part of this work focuses on residual stresses in silicon wafers subjected to known physical damage such as indentations. Residual stress fields around Vickers indentations in silicon are found to be larger in size than predicted by contact mechanics. Placing Vickers indentations in close proximity creates a secondary stress field surrounding the entire indentation array, and a relationship is developed to explain this behavior. High residual stresses measured at grain boundaries are found to be consistent with models of atomic displacement. Placement of Vickers indentations near grain boundaries results in a change in stress state at the grain boundaries. The results of this study demonstrate the capacity of birefringence as a non-destructive evaluation tool and describe the effects of residual stress concentrations in silicon wafers.

The objective of this work is to develop essential building blocks for the lab-on-a-chip optical sensing systems with high performance. In this study, the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform is chosen because of its compatibility with the mature microelectronics industry for the great potential in terms of powerful data processing and massive production. Despite the impressing progress in optical sensors based on the silicon photonic technologies, two constant challenges are larger sensitivity and better selectivity. To address the first issue, we incorporate porous materials to the silicon photonics platform. Two porous materials are investigated: porous silicon and porous titania. The demonstrated travelling-wave resonators with the magnesiothermically reacted porous silicon cladding have shown significant enhancement in the sensitivity. The process is then further optimized by replacing the thermal oxide with a flowable oxide for the magnesiothermic reduction. A different approach of making porous silicon using porous anodized alumina membrane leads to better flexibility in controlling the pore size and porosity. Porous titania is successfully integrated with silicon nitride resonators. To improve the selectivity, an array of integrated optical sensors are coated with different polymers, such that each incoming gas analyte has its own signature in the collective response matrix. A multiplexed gas sensor with four polymers has been demonstrated. It also includes on chip references compensating for the adverse environmental effects. On chip spectral analysis is also very critical for lab-on-a-chip sensing systems. For that matter, based on an array of microdonut resonators, we demonstrate an 81 channel microspectrometer. The demonstrated spectrometer leads to a high spectral resolution of 0.6 nm, and a large operating bandwidth of ~ 50 nm.

published_or_final_version / Physics / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy