Bär, M.; Wimmer, M.; Wilks, R.G.; Roczen, M.; Gerlach, D.; Ruske, F.; Lips, K.; Rech, B.; Weinhardt, L.; Blum, M.; Pookpanratana, S.; Krause, S.; Zhang, Y.; Heske, C.; Yang, W.; Denlinger J.D.: Impact of solid-phase crystallization of amorphous silicon on the chemical structure of the buried Si/ZnO thin film solar cell interface. Applied Physics Letters 97 (2010), p. 072105/1-3
10.1063/1.3462316
Abstract:
The chemical interface structure between phosphorus-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon and aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films is investigated with soft x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) before and after solid-phase crystallization (SPC) at 600 °C. In addition to the expected SPC-induced phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline silicon, our XES data indicates a pronounced chemical interaction at the buried Si/ZnO interface. In particular, we find an SPC-enhanced formation of Si–O bonds and the accumulation of Zn in close proximity to the interface. For an assumed closed and homogeneous SiO2 interlayer, an effective thickness of (5 +/- 2) nm after SPC could be estimated.