Thin Layer Deposition of a-Si: H n-Type Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon using PECVD

Abstract

In this study, we report that N-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) was grown with the addition of H₂ using the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) technique. The deposition was carried out for several process parameters including deposition time, gas pressure, and substrate temperature with the aim of obtaining a thin a-Si: H layer which has effective optical properties for solar cell materials. To indicate the nature of this semiconductor, the optical band gap is measured. From the measurement using Tauc's Plot method on the absorption data of the UV-Vis spectrum as a function of wavelength, the optical bandgap energy of the thin film was obtained. While the thickness of the thin layer was characterized by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The characterization results show that the optical band gap energy is 1.8 eV and the thickness of the thin film formed is 72 nm.