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Anomalous crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon during fast heating ramps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

J. Farjas ,
J. Serra-Miralles ,
P. Roura ,
E. Bertran  and
P. Roca i Cabarrocas
J. Farjas
Affiliation:
GRMT, Department of Physics, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain
J. Serra-Miralles
Affiliation:
GRMT, Department of Physics, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain
P. Roura*
Affiliation:
GRMT, Department of Physics, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, E17071-Girona, Catalonia, Spain
E. Bertran
Affiliation:
FEMAN, Departament de Física Aplicada i Optica, Universitat de Barcelona, E08028-Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
P. Roca i Cabarrocas
Affiliation:
LPICM (UMR 7647 CNRS) Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Thermal crystallization experiments carried out using calorimetry on several a-Si:H materials with different microstructures are reported. The samples were crystallized during heating ramps at constant heating rates up to 100 K/min. Under these conditions, crystallization takes place above 700 °C and progressively deviates from the standard kinetics. In particular, two crystallization processes were detected in conventional a-Si:H, which reveal an enhancement of the crystallization rate. At 100 K/min, such enhancement is consistent with a diminution of the crystallization time by a factor of 7. In contrast, no systematic variation of the resulting grain size was observed. Similar behavior was also detected in polymorphous silicon and silicon nanoparticles, thus showing that it is characteristic of a variety of hydrogenated amorphous silicon materials.

Keywords

AmorphousDifferential thermal analysis (DTA)Photovoltaic
Type
Rapid Communications
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , February 2005 , pp. 277 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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