The deposition of amorphous silicon from monosilane, disilane and mixtures of higher silanes has been studied. The literature available relating to the thermal decomposition of monosilane, disilane and trisilane has been reviewed and key thermodynamic data has been summarised. The presence of hydrogen in the as-deposited film has been confirmed and the dependence of the hydrogenation on the deposition parameters has been investigated. The bonding of hydrogen in the hydrogenated films has been investigated using FTIR spectroscopy. The films have been examined for their suitability as photovoltaic materials; dark conductivity, mobility band gap and the activation energy for the conduction process have been determined. The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of phosphine have been studied prior to the use of phosphine as a dopant for amorphous silicon. A brief study of the thermal decomposition of diborane was also carried out. Co-pyrolysis of silanes with phosphine and diborane to produce substitutionally doped material has been attempted, and the resultant material examined in the same way as the undoped material. The physical nature of the hydrogen incorporation is discussed and conclusions are drawn about the feasibility of controlling the hydrogen content of undoped and doped material.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:636395 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Davies, H. |
| Publisher | Swansea University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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