Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is a chemical vapor deposition process used to deposit thin films from a gas state (vapor) to a solid state on a substrate. Chemical reactions are involved in the process, which occur after creation of a plasma of the reacting gases. The plasma is generally created by radio frequency (RF) (alternating current (AC)) frequency or direct current (DC) discharge between two electrodes, the space between which is filled with the reacting gases. Discharges for processes A plasma is any gas in which a significant percentage of the atoms or molecules are ionized. Fractional ionization in plasmas used for deposition and related materials processing varies from about 10−4 in typical capacitive discharges to as high as 5–10% in high-density inductive plasmas. Processing plasmas are typically operated at pressures of a few millitorrs to a few torr, although arc discharges and inductive plasmas can be ignited at atmospheric pressure. P

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Development of high band gap protocrystalline material for p-i-n thin film silicon solar cells

Fabio Maurizio

High band gap thin film silicon solar cells are of high interest for the use as top cell in triple junctions solar cells. Protocrystalline silicon, in the transition phase between amorphous and microcrystalline silicon, is such a high band gap material. During this project, protocrystalline intrinsic layers have been developed and optimized in p-i-n single junction solar cells by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) in a new multi-chamber deposition system. In the first series, cells and layers were deposited with different dilutions going from silane to hydrogen flux ratios of 1:1 to 1:64. At the dilutions 1:16 and 1:32, protocrystalline ma-terial was obtained which showed amorphous characteristics only up to a certain thickness, where crystallites started to evolve. With dilution 1:16, a second cell series has been deposited with variation of the intrinsic layer thick-ness. The best cells in terms of open-circuit voltage and fill factor product were obtained with an i-layer thickness of 100 nm. These cells have open-circuit voltages and fill factors up to 0.975 V and 75.8 % (0.932 V and 69.9 %) for the initial (degraded) state. These are promising values for the use of this material in top cells. However, the low current density means that the optimum i-layer thickness is probably higher for triple cell application. Further cells have been deposited at different temperatures. These results imply that there is still room for further optimization, when current limitations of the heating system will be overcome.

2012

The Influence of Microstructure on Nanomechanical and Diffusion Barrier Properties of Thin PECVD SiOx Films Deposited on Parylene C Substrates

David Framil Carpeno, Ivo Furno, Yves Leterrier, Matthias Van Gompel

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was used to deposit SiOx thin films of varying thicknesses on parylene C substrates, using hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) as a precursor. The microstructure of SiOx coatings was analyzed using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), nanoindentation, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The composition ranged from oxygen-rich oxides with large silanol OH content to hybrid oxides with larger organic content, while refractive index varied from 1.45 to 1.5 depending on the specimen. Reduced moduli of coatings obtained by nanoindentation varied between 15 and 59 GPa and could be correlated with permeability to oxygen and water vapor through the existence of porosity in a broader sense. It can be concluded that the barrier properties are the result of a complex interplay of microstructural features, with porosity, silanol, and carbon content playing important roles in the final thin film properties.

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2019

On line acquisition of parameters in deposition processes

2002