Hydrogen-related defects in single-crystal ZnO and rutile TiO2 are investigated by means of infrared absorption, Raman scattering, photoluminescence and photoconductivity. Four different defect centers in ZnO are considered: bond-centered hydrogen (HBC ), hydrogen bound within the oxygen vacancy (HO), hydrogen molecules, and a defect, which gives rise to a local vibrational mode at 3326 cm−1 . The measurements identify HBC as a shallow donor with an ionization energy of 53 meV. The internal 1s → 2p transition of HBC is detected at 330 cm−1 in the Raman scattering and photoconductivity spectra. The decay of an exciton bound to HBC results in the photoluminescence line at 3360.1 ± 0.2 meV. The local vibrational mode of the O–H bond for bond-centered hydrogen has a frequency of 3611 cm−1 (H-I) and an effective charge of 0.28±0.03e. It is found that bond-centered hydrogen is unstable against annealing at 190 °C due to diffusion and trapping by other defects. The dominant sink is the hydrogen molecule. It is demonstrated that the well-known I4 photoluminescence line at 3362.8 meV is due to the recombination of excitons bound to the HO donor. The ionization energy of the HO donor is determined to be 47 meV. The 1s → 2pz (2pxy) electronic transition of HO is detected at 265 cm−1 in photoconductivity spectra. The formation of HO occurs via trapping of HBC at vacancies left by out-diffusing oxygen. It is shown that sub-band gap illumination leads to an intensity reduction of the O–H local vibrational mode at 3326 cm−1 and the appearance of a previously unreported infrared absorption line at 3358 cm−1. The signals are identified as stretch modes of an O–H bond associated with the same defect in different charge states. The measurements indicate that this defect has a deep level in the band gap of ZnO at roughly Ec − 1.7 eV. Additionally, results on the thermal stability, uniaxial stress response, and temperature dependence of the transition rates between the two charge states of this defect are presented. Interstitial hydrogen in rutile TiO2 is studied by infrared absorption. It is shown that the defect is a shallow donor with an ionization energy of 10 meV. The absorption lines at about 3290 cm−1 consists of local vibrational modes due to the neutral and the positive charge states of the donor with relative intensities depending on the measurement conditions. In the neutral charge state, the defect reveals two modes at 3288.3 and 3292 cm−1 (10 K), whereas the positive charge state has a vibrational mode at 3287.4 cm−1. An unknown hydrogen complex was found to contribute to the 3288 cm−1 feature.

Le but de cette thèse a été de mettre en évidence notre capacité à utiliser des boîtes quantiques semi-conductrices comme support à la réalisation de bits quantiques, briques élémentaires de l'information quantique. Nous avons ainsi démontré la possibilité de définir un système à deux niveaux, dont l'initialisation et le contrôle est réalisable au moyen d'impulsions lumineuses picosecondes et déterminé le temps durant lequel nous étions en mesure de conserver sa cohérence. Les oscillations de Rabi entre niveau fondamental et niveau excité permettent d'initialiser le système dans une superposition cohérente pouvant être ensuite manipulée par une deuxième impulsion au cours d'expériences de contrôle cohérent. Le temps de cohérence T2 du système n'est pas seulement limité par la durée de vie radiative T1 et reste très inférieur à la valeur théorique T2= 2T1. Les différents mécanismes de décohérence entrant en jeu ont dès lors été étudiés, en particulier le rôle des phonons acoustiques, responsables d'un fort amortissement des oscillations de Rabi et d'une diminution du temps de cohérence pour une partie des boîtes quantiques étudiées. Nous avons cependant dans certains cas mis en évidence la présence de mécanismes supplémentaires, liés aux fluctuations de l'environnement électrostatique des boîtes. Par ailleurs, une étude poussée de la polarisation de la luminescence émise par ces boîtes, dont la croissance a été réalisée en régime Stranski-Krastanov, a révélé une inclinaison des états propres de la structure fine de l'exciton, ainsi qu'une modification de leur intensité d'émission, témoignant d'un fort mélange des états lourds et légers de la bande de valence

The cost of crystalline silicon solar cells must be reduced in order for photovoltaics to be widely accepted as an economically viable means of electricity generation and be used on a larger scale across the world. There are several ways to achieve cost reduction, such as using thinner silicon substrates, lowering the thermal budget of the processes, and improving the efficiency of solar cells. This thesis examines the use of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited silicon nitride to address the criteria of cost reduction for n-type crystalline silicon solar cells. It focuses on the surface passivation quality of silicon nitride on n-type silicon, and injection-level dependent lifetime data is used extensively in this thesis to evaluate the surface passivation quality of the silicon nitride films. The thesis covers several aspects, spanning from characterisation and modelling, to process development, to device integration. The thesis begins with a review on the advantages of using n-type silicon for solar cells applications, with some recent efficiency results on n-type silicon solar cells and a review on various interdigitated backside contact structures, and key results of surface passivation for n-type silicon solar cells. It then presents an analysis of the influence of various parasitic effects on lifetime data, highlighting how these parasitic effects could affect the results of experiments that use lifetime data extensively. A plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process for depositing silicon nitride films is developed to passivate both diffused and non-diffused surfaces for n-type silicon solar cells application. Photoluminescence imaging, lifetime measurements, and optical microscopy are used to assess the quality of the silicon nitride films. An open circuit voltage of 719 mV is measured on an n-type, 1 Ω.cm, FZ, voltage test structure that has direct passivation by silicon nitride. Dark saturation current densities of 5 to 15 fA/cm2 are achieved on SiN-passivated boron emitters that have sheet resistances ranging from 60 to 240 Ω/□ after thermal annealing. Using the process developed, a more profound study on surface passivation by silicon nitride is conducted, where the relationship between the surface passivation quality and the film composition is investigated. It is demonstrated that the silicon-nitrogen bond density is an important parameter to achieve good surface pas-sivation and thermal stability. With the developed process and deeper understanding on the surface passivation of silicon nitride, attempts of integrating the process into the fab-rication of all-SiN passivated n-type IBC solar cells and laser doped n-type IBC solar cells are presented. Some of the limitations, inter-relationships, requirements, and challenges of novel integration of SiN into these solar cell devices are identified. Finally, a novel metallisation scheme that takes advantages of the different etching and electroless plating properties of different PECVD SiN films is described, and a preliminary evalua-tion is presented. This metallisation scheme increases the metal finger width without increasing the metal contact area with the underlying silicon, and also enables optimal distance between point contacts for point contact solar cells. It is concluded in this thesis that plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited silicon nitride is well-suited for n-type silicon solar cells.

Thesis (Ph.D.); Submitted to Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (US); 12 Dec 2003. / Published through the Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information. "IS-T 2605" Chang-Hwan Kim. 12/12/2003. Report is also available in paper and microfiche from NTIS.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 186 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 150 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-150).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 141 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-141).

Th.--Sci.--Grenoble--I.N.P.G., 1984. N°: DE 163.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:07:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LauraXL_DISSERT.pdf: 3047950 bytes, checksum: 570af1df35d3161d6677ac6ec832e390 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-16 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Recent studies are investigating a new class of inorganic materials which arise as a promising option for high performance applications in the field of photoluminescence. Highlight for rare earth (TR +3 ) doped, which have a high luminous efficiency, long decay time and being able to emit radiation in the visible range, specific to each element. In this study, we synthesized ZrO2: Tb +3 , Eu +3 , Tm +3 nanoparticles complex polymerization method (CPM). We investigated the influences caused by the heat treatment temperature and the content of dopants in zirconia photoluminescent behavior. The particles were calcined at temperature of 400, 500 and 600 ? C for two hours and ranged in concentration of dopants 1, 2, 4 and 8 mol% TR +3 . The samples were characterized by thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence of measurements and uv-visible of spectroscopies. The results of X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of the tetragonal and cubic phases in accordance with the content of dopants. The photoluminescence spectra show emission in the region corresponding simultaneous to blue (450 nm), green (550 nm) and red (615 nm). According to the results, ZrO2 particles co-doped with rare earth ions is a promising material white emission with a potential application in the field of photoluminescence / Estudos recentes investigam uma nova classe de materiais inorg?nicos que surgem como uma op??o promissora em aplica??es de alto desempenho no campo da fotoluminesc?ncia. Destaque para f?sforos dopados com ?ons de terras raras (TR +3 ), que possuem uma alta efici?ncia luminosa, um longo tempo de decaimento e por serem capazes de emitir radia??es na faixa do vis?vel, espec?ficas de cada elemento. Neste trabalho, foram sintetizadas nanopart?culas de ZrO2:Tb +3 , Eu +3 , Tm +3 pelo m?todo de polimeriza??o dos complexos (MPC). Foram investigadas as influ?ncias causadas pela temperatura de tratamento t?rmico e pelo teor dos dopantes no comportamento fotoluminescente da zirc?nia. As part?culas foram calcinadas nas temperaturas de 400, 500 e 600?C durante duas horas e a concentra??o dos dopantes variou em 1, 2, 4 e 8% mol TR +3 . As amostras foram caracterizadas por an?lises t?rmicas (TG/ DSC), difra??o de raios X (DRX), medidas de fotoluminesc?ncia (FL) e espectroscopia na regi?o do UV-Vis?vel (UV-vis). Os resultados de difra??o de raios X confirmaram a forma??o das fases tetragonal e c?bica de acordo com o teor de dopantes. Os espectros de fotoluminesc?ncia apresentam emiss?es simult?neas correspondentes na regi?o do azul (450 nm), do verde (550 nm) e do vermelho (615 nm). De acordo com os resultados obtidos, as part?culas de ZrO2 codopadas com ?ons de terras raras apresentam-se como um material promissor para emiss?o no branco com um potencial de aplica??o no campo da fotoluminesc?ncia