Study of SiOx thickness effects on aluminum-induced crystallization

The thickness effects of SiOx which was deposited as an intermediate layer between aluminum and silicon were studied on Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC). The SiOx layer thickness varied from 2 nm to 20 nm and affected the crystallization process of the AIC. In the case of the thin SiOx layer, crystallized silicon morphology showed kinetic-limited aggregation. On the other hand, crystallized silicon processed with the thick SiOx layer showed diffusion-limited aggregation due to slow silicon diffusion velocity. Kinetic-limited aggregation showed large grain. The schematic crystallization model was used to describe the relationship between crystallization and grain size in this paper

Study on silicon crystallization with aluminum deposition temperature in the aluminum-induced crystallization process using silicon oxide

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) is one process which increases silicon grain size at low temperatures. In this study, we analyzed the effect of silicon crystallization according to the aluminum deposition conditions in the AIC process using silicon oxide. The initial aluminum layer was analyzed using a field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) after cutting the samples with a focused-ion-beam (FIB). Through FE-SEM, we observed that the aluminum grain size of the original aluminum layer increased in proportion to the aluminum deposition temperature. However, not only aluminum grain size but also surface roughness and porosity of the initial aluminum layer were increased. The initial aluminum layer, according to the deposition temperature, significantly affected the crystallized silicon grain size. The silicon grain size was decreased from 16.97 μm to 7.81 μm according to the increase of the aluminum deposition temperature. This was because the Si diffusion area was increased by the increase of the aluminum surface roughness

n‑MoS₂/p-Si Solar Cells with Al₂O₃ Passivation for Enhanced Photogeneration

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has recently emerged as a promising candidate for fabricating ultrathin-film photovoltaic devices. These devices exhibit excellent photovoltaic performance, superior flexibility, and low production cost. Layered MoS₂ deposited on p-Si establishes a built-in electric field at MoS₂/Si interface that helps in photogenerated carrier separation for photovoltaic operation. We propose an Al₂O₃-based passivation at the MoS₂ surface to improve the photovoltaic performance of bulklike MoS₂/Si solar cells. Interestingly, it was observed that Al₂O₃ passivation enhances the built-in field by reduction of interface trap density at surface. Our device exhibits an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.6%, which to our knowledge is the highest efficiency among all bulklike MoS₂-based photovoltaic cells. The demonstrated results hold the promise for integration of bulklike MoS₂ films with Si-based electronics to develop highly efficient photovoltaic cells