%0 Journal Article
%T Design and Investigation of SST/nc-Si:H/M (M = Ag, Au, Ni) and M/nc-Si:H/M Multifunctional Devices
%A A. F. Qasrawi
%A Salam M. Kmail
%A Samah F. Assaf
%A Z. M. Saleh
%J Advances in OptoElectronics
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/807542
%X Hydrogenated nanocrystalline Silicon thin films prepared by the very high frequency chemical vapor deposition technique (VHF-CVD) on stainless steel (SST) substrates are used to design Schottky point contact barriers for the purpose of solar energy conversion and passive electronic component applications. In this process, the contact performance between SST and M (M = Ag, Au, and Ni) and between Ag, Au, and Ni electrodes was characterized by means of current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, and light intensity dependence of short circuit ( ) current and open circuit voltage ( ) of the contacts. Particularly, the devices ideality factors, barrier heights were evaluated by the Schottky method and compared to the Cheung's. Best Schottky device performance with lowest ideality factor suitable for electronic applications was observed in the SST/nc-Si:H/Ag structure. This device reflects a of 229£¿mV with an of 1.6£¿mA/cm2 under an illumination intensity of ~40£¿klux. On the other hand, the highest being 9.0£¿mA/cm2 and the of 53.1£¿mV were observed for Ni/nc-Si:H/Au structure. As these voltages represent the maximum biasing voltage for some of the designed devices, the SST/nc-Si:H/M and M/nc-Si:H/M can be regarded as multifunctional self-energy that provided electronic devices suitable for active or passive applications. 1. Introduction Nanoscale crystalline silicon particles embedded in amorphous silica, where the nanoscale particles play a main role, have attracted the interest of researchers due to their applicability in electronics as thin film transistors [1]. Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) is reported to exhibit a promising application as a stable high-efficiency solar cells and as a panel displays [2¨C5]. The hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon layers are known to be highly influenced by the type of substrate they grow on. They have been grown on GaAs wafer substrates [6]. Analysis on these films reflected nonuniform electric field distribution. A series of nc-Si:H films have also been deposited on glass substrates at different silicate concentrations and different substrate temperatures by using the traditional radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) technique with an excitation frequency of 13.56£¿MHz [7]. These films which grow on glass substrate at low temperature were characterized by average grain size, crystalline nature, and dark electrical conductivity data obtained from the Raman and electrical conductivity spectroscopy, respectively. These parameters are reported to be highly influenced by the substrate
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aoe/2013/807542/