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Experimental Verification of a Random Medium Model for the Optical Behaviour of Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Layers Grown on Porous Silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

L. Stalmans
Affiliation:
IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, 3001, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected]
A.A. Abouelsaood
Affiliation:
ECE Dept., College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University, Kuwait
M.Y. Ghannam
Affiliation:
Physics and Mathematics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt
J. Poortmans
Affiliation:
IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, 3001, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected]
H. Bender
Affiliation:
IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, 3001, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected]
M. Caymax
Affiliation:
IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, 3001, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected]
J. Nijs
Affiliation:
IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, 3001, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected] Also Professor at KULeuven, Faculty of Engineering
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Abstract

The random medium model for porous silicon (PS) is applied to a porous silicon layer to be used as a back reflector in a thin film silicon solar cell realized in an ultrathin epitaxially grown Si layer on PS. Three-layer-structures (epi/PS/Si) have been fabricated by RPCVD of 150-1000 nm epitaxial silicon layers on the porous surface of silicon wafers. The light reflection has been measured in the 300-1000 nm wavelength range. An excellent agreement is found between the experimentally measured reflectance curves and those calculated using the random medium model. The analysis shows that the epitaxial growth has led to an appreciable reduction in the porosity in the intermediate PS layer from about 60% to 20-30%.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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References

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