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Studies on Amorphous Silicon Thin Films Doped with Aluminium

Amorphous Silicon(a-Si) films have attracted the attention of several investigators as it is an economical material for devices. One of the problems that is addressed is the doping of these films after they are prepared.
In this thesis, we investigated the effects of doping amorphous Sil­icon films(prepared by r.f. sputtering) with Aluminium(Al) by ther­mal diffusion. Amorphous Silicon films have been prepared on glass substrates at optimal process parameters. Then, the a-Si films are coated with Al by vacuum evaporation and subjected to heating in N2 atmosphere in the temperature range 300°C to 600°C for different durations.
After etching Al layer, it has been found that some of the films which are heated around 550°C contain filament like polycrystalline regions surrounding islands of a-Si.
This structure has been confirmed through Scanning Electron Mi-croscope(SEM) photographs and electrical conductivity measurements. SEM photographs indicate that, bright regions of amorphous mate­rial are surrounded by dark regions of relatively higher conducting
boundaries.
The electrical conductivity study shows that there is sharp increase in conductivity of Al doped films, which is attributed to the conduct­ing polycrystalUne filament.
A simple model has been proposed to explain the variation of con­ductivity of these transformed films, with process parameters and with temperature.
Schottky barrier diodes have been fabricated using these trans­formed materials and their characteristics explained.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:IISc/oai:etd.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in:2005/157
Date01 1900
CreatorsHo, Kang Jin
ContributorsSatyam, M
PublisherIndian Institute of Science
Source SetsIndia Institute of Science
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis and Dissertation
Format1791859 bytes, application/pdf
RightsI grant Indian Institute of Science the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now hereafter known. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation.

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