Ultra-thin Silicon Films Research Articles

Structures of quasi-freestanding ultra-thin silicon films deposited on chemically inert surfaces

Silicon thin films were deposited on a sapphire and a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), which have atomically flat and chemically inert surfaces. The electronic and geometrical structures of the films were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and polarization-dependent X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). It was found that the silicon K-edge XAFS spectra for ultra-thin silicon films thinner than 0.2 monolayer exhibited two distinct resonance peaks which were not observed for bulk silicon. The peaks were assigned to the resonance excitations from the Si 1s into the valence unoccupied orbitals with π∗ and σ∗ characters. The average tilted angle of the π∗ orbitals was determined by the polarization dependencies of the peak intensities. It was demonstrated that direction of a part of the π∗ orbitals in silicon film is perpendicular to the surface. These results support the existence of quasi-freestanding single-layered silicon films with sp2 configuration.

Optical bandgap of ultra-thin amorphous silicon films deposited on crystalline silicon by PECVD

An optical study based on spectroscopic ellipsometry, performed on ultrathin hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers, is presented in this work. Ultrathin layers of intrinsic amorphous silicon have been deposited on n-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The layer thicknesses along with their optical properties –including their refractive index and optical loss- were characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in a wavelength range from 250 nm to 850 nm. The data was fitted to a Tauc-Lorentz optical model and the fitting parameters were extracted and used to compute the refractive index, extinction coefficient and optical bandgap. Furthermore, the a-Si:H film grown on silicon was etched at a controlled rate using a TMAH solution prepared at room temperature. The optical properties along with the Tauc-Lorentz fitting parameters were extracted from the model as the film thickness was reduced. The etch rate for ultrathin a-Si:H layers in TMAH at room temperature was found to slow down drastically as the c-Si interface is approached. From the Tauc-Lorentz parameters obtained from SE, it was found that the a-Si film exhibited properties that evolved with thickness suggesting that the deposited film is non-homogeneous across its depth. It was also found that the degree of crystallinity and optical (Tauc) bandgap increased as the layers were reduced in thickness and coming closer to the c-Si substrate interface, suggesting the presence of nano-structured clusters mixed into the amorphous phase for the region close to the crystalline silicon substrate. Further results from Atomic Force Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy confirmed the presence of an interfacial transitional layer between the amorphous film and the underlying substrate showing silicon nano-crystalline enclosures that can lead to quantum confinement effects. Quantum confinement is suggested to be the cause of the observed increase in the optical bandgap of a-Si:H films close to the a-Si:H/cSi interface.

Charge-Plasma Based Process Variation Immune Junctionless Transistor

In this letter, we report for the first time a distinctive approach of implementing a junctionless transistor (JLT) without doping (doping-less) the ultrathin silicon film. A charge-plasma concept is employed to induce n-region for the formation of source and drain for a n-channel JLT using appropriate metal work function electrodes. Electrical characteristics of the proposed device are simulated and compared with that of a conventionally doped JLT of identical dimensions. In conventional JLTs, the channel doping concentration is generally kept high to ensure high ON-state current, but it causes variation in threshold voltage, which may be due to process variations. The proposed device solves the problem of threshold voltage variability without affecting inherent advantages of JLTs.

Optical properties of ultra-thin silicon films deposited on nanostructured anodic alumina surfaces

Light trapping is crucial for thin film silicon solar cells and is often achieved by expensive, clean-room intensive nano-patterning methods. In this work, nanostructured silicon thin films were realized by direct deposition on substrates with nanoscale features prepared by simple and scalable fabrication based on electrochemical methods and wet etching. A broadband and angle-insensitive absorption enhancement of thin film silicon was observed. The photocurrent density shows improvements up to ∼40% in the AM 1.5 spectrum when comparing to the same thin film silicon deposited on smooth substrates. This approach not only demonstrates the advantage of simple fabrication but also has potential for ultra thin film photovoltaic applications.

Structure of ultra-thin silicon film on HOPG studied by polarization-dependence of X-ray absorption fine structure

Structures of mono-layered silicon on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES). For the Si K-edge XANES spectrum of the 0.15 mono-layered film, two distinct peaks were observed, which were assigned to the resonant excitations from the Si 1s into the valence unoccupied orbitals with π∗ and σ∗ characters. On the basis of the polarization dependences of the peak intensities, it was concluded that a part of the Si film lies flat on the HOPG surface, which supports the existence of two-dimensional graphene-like structure in mono-layered silicon.

2D Asymmetric Silicon Micro-Mirror Fabricated with Anodic Bonding between an Ultra-thin Silicon Film by Laser Micro-Processing and a Glass Substrate

2D Asymmetric Silicon Micro-Mirror Fabricated with Anodic Bonding between an Ultra-thin Silicon Film by Laser Micro-Processing and a Glass Substrate

Revision of interface coupling in ultra-thin body silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

The charge coupling between the gate and substrate is a fundamental property of any fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOS transistor, which manifests itself as a dependence of electrical characteristics at one Si film/dielectric interface on charges at the opposite interface and opposite gate bias. Traditionally, gate-to-substrate coupling in SOI MOS transistors is described by the classical Lim-Fossum model. However, in the case of SOI MOS transistors with ultra-thin silicon bodies, significant deviations from this model are observed. In this paper, the behavior of gate coupling in SOI MOS structures with ultra-thin silicon films and ultra-thin gate dielectrics is studied and analyzed using experimental data and one-dimensional numerical simulations in classical and quantum-mechanical modes. It is shown that in these advanced transistor structures, coupling characteristics (dependences of the front- and back-gate threshold voltages on the opposite gate bias) feature a larger slope and much wider (more than doubled) linear region than that predicted by the Lim-Fossum model. These differences originate from both electrostatic and quantization effects. A simple analytical model taking into account these effects and being in good agreement with numerical simulations and experimental results is proposed.

Indirect to direct band gap transition in ultra-thin silicon films

Free standing silicon layers undergo a transition from indirect to direct band gap semiconductor, which predicts a new possible way in silicon band gap engineering. The thickness and crystal orientation of the exposed surface are crucial. Our simulations reveal that the (100) films with thickness of ∼1.05 nm and (110) films with thickness of ∼1.14 nm could maintain the direct band gap structure. However, the (111) films always show indirect band gap structure even if the monolayer is constructed. The electron states density calculations were also carried out and the transition of the band gap structure is considered to be determined by the quantum confinement and surface termination conditions. The momentum matrix element calculations were also carried out, approving the effective direct band gap transitions for these ultra-thin films.

A Novel Nanoscale FDSOI MOSFET with Block-Oxide

We demonstrate improved device performance by applying oxide sidewall spacer technology to a block-oxide-enclosed Si body to create a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) nMOSFET, which overcomes the need for a uniform ultrathin silicon film. The presence of block-oxide along the sidewalls of the Si body significantly reduces the influence of drain bias over the channel. The proposed FDSOI structure therefore outperforms conventional FDSOI with regard to its drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), on/off current ratio, subthreshold swing, and threshold voltage rolloff. The new FDSOI structure is in fact shown to behave similarly to an ultrathin body (UTB) SOI but without the associated disadvantages and technological challenges of the ultrathin film, because a thick Si body allows for reduced sensitivity to self-heating, thereby improving thermal stability.

A Vertical PN Junction Utilizing the Impurity Photovoltaic Effect for the Enhancement of Ultra-thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

ABSTRACTWe report a preliminary study on the influence of indium doping on ultra-thin film silicon solar cells. The design of the cell reported here is such that it should elucidate the impact of the indium dopant, which is concentrated in the thin film. Indium, a deep level in silicon (0.157 eV above the valence band), acts as a p-type dopant and a sensitizer. Absorption through sub-bandgap transitions is expected based on the previously reported Impurity PhotoVoltaic (IPV) Effect [1]. It is proposed that the implementation of a novel vertical PN junction configuration together with the IPV effect enhances the efficiency of ultra-thin solar cells. The most efficient cell fabricated to date, in our research group, has a conversion efficiency of 4.3 % (active silicon thickness of 2.5 μm), a short-circuit current density of 14.9 mA/cm2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.51 V under 1 sun illumination. The cell has not been optimized with any type of light trapping technique and 11.24 % of the cell surface is covered by the metal contacts. Numerical simulation indicates that for the geometry used, the maximum efficiency that may be expected is 9.8 % (compared to the 4.3 % measured).

The kinetics of dewetting ultra-thin Si layers from silicon dioxide

In this study, we investigate the kinetically driven dewetting of ultra-thin silicon films on silicon oxide substrate under ultra-high vacuum, at temperatures where oxide desorption and silicon lost could be ruled out. We show that in ultra-clean experimental conditions, the three different regimes of dewetting, namely (i) nucleation of holes, (ii) film retraction and (iii) coalescence of holes, can be quantitatively measured as a function of temperature, time and thickness. For a nominal flat clean sample these three regimes co-exist during the film retraction until complete dewetting. To discriminate their roles in the kinetics of dewetting, we have compared the dewetting evolution of flat unpatterned crystalline silicon layers (homogeneous dewetting), patterned crystalline silicon layers (heterogeneous dewetting) and amorphous silicon layers (crystallization-induced dewetting). The first regime (nucleation) is described by a breaking time which follows an exponential evolution with temperature with an activation energy EH ∼ 3.2 eV. The second regime (retraction) is controlled by surface diffusion of matter from the edges of the holes. It involves a very fast redistribution of matter onto the flat Si layer, which prevents the formation of a rim on the edges of the holes during both heterogeneous and homogeneous dewetting. The time evolution of the linear dewetting front measured during heterogeneous dewetting follows a characteristic power law x ∼ t0.45 consistent with a surface diffusion-limited mechanism. It also evolves as x ∼ h−1 as expected from mass conservation in the absence of thickened rim. When the surface energy is isotropic (during dewetting of amorphous Si) the dynamics of dewetting is considerably modified: firstly, there is no measurable breaking time; secondly, the speed of dewetting is two orders of magnitude larger than for crystalline Si; and thirdly, the activation energy of dewetting is much smaller due to the different driving force, which is based on the crystallization and redistribution of matter around the crystalline nuclei. The third regime (coalescence) corresponds to the merging of the dewetted fronts and of the islands positioned along the edges of the holes. The dynamics of this regime is much slower since it requires overcoming an additional nucleation barrier, while the surface energy reduction is quite low (low decrease of the covered surface area).

Dynamical process of KrF pulsed excimer laser crystallization of ultrathin amorphous silicon films to form Si nano-dots

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on the Tersoff potential have been developed to study the laser-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) film with ultrathin thickness to form size-controllable Si nano-dots. The influences of laser fluence and a-Si film thickness on the crystallization process were discussed. Classic nucleation theory was used to explain the results of the MD simulations. The constrain effect of a-Si films thickness on the formation of Si nano-dots was evaluated accordingly.

Plasmonic-photonic arrays with aperiodic spiral order for ultra-thin film solar cells

We report on the design, fabrication and measurement of ultra-thin film Silicon On Insulator (SOI) Schottky photo-detector cells with nanostructured plasmonic arrays, demonstrating broadband enhanced photocurrent generation using aperiodic golden angle spiral geometry. Both golden angle spiral and periodic arrays of various center-to-center particle spacing were investigated to optimize the photocurrent enhancement. The primary photocurrent enhancement region is designed for the spectral range 600nm-950nm, where photon absorption in Si is inherently poor. We demonstrate that cells coupled to spiral arrays exhibit higher photocurrent enhancement compared to optimized periodic gratings structures. The findings are supported through coupled-dipole numerical simulations of radiation diagrams and finite difference time domain simulations of enhanced absorption in Si thin-films.

Absorption Enhancement in Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells with Antireflection and Light-Trapping Nanocone Gratings

Enhancing the light absorption in ultrathin-film silicon solar cells is important for improving efficiency and reducing cost. We introduce a double-sided grating design, where the front and back surfaces of the cell are separately optimized for antireflection and light trapping, respectively. The optimized structure yields a photocurrent of 34.6 mA/cm(2) at an equivalent thickness of 2 μm, close to the Yablonovitch limit. This approach is applicable to various thicknesses and is robust against metallic loss in the back reflector.

Effect of dangling bonds of ultra-thin silicon film surface on electronic states of internal atoms

We investigate how dangling bonds at the surface of ultra-thin films affect electronic states inside the film by first principles calculation. In the calculation models, dangling bonds at the surface are directly treated, and the impact on the electronic states of the internal atoms was estimated. Models with a H-terminated surface at both sides have no state in the bandgap. Whereas, new states appear at around the midgap by removing terminated H at surfaces of one or both sides. These mid-gap states appear at all layers, the states of which decrease as the layer moves away from the surface with dangling bonds. The sum of local DOS corresponds to the number of dangling bonds of the model. If the activation rate is assumed as 2.0×10−5, which is an ordinary value of thermal oxide passivation on Si (100) surface, volume concentration and surface concentration at the 18th layer from the surface in a 36-layer model are estimated to be 1.2×1014cm−3 and 1.5×109cm−2, respectively. These numbers are comparable to the values, especially the dopant volume concentration of Si substrate used in current VLSI technology (∼1015cm−3). Therefore, the midgap states inside ultra-thin films may degrade performance of the FinFETs.

Ultrathin broadband nearly perfect absorber with symmetrical coherent illumination

As highlighted by recent articles [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 053901 (2010) and Science 331, 889-892 (2011)], the coherent control of narrowband perfect absorption in intrinsic silicon slab has attracted much attention. In this paper, we demonstrate that broadband coherent perfect absorber (CPA) can be achieved by heavily doping an ultrathin silicon film. Two distinct perfect absorption regimes are derived with extremely broad and moderately narrow bandwidth under symmetrical coherent illumination. The large enhancement of bandwidth may open up new avenues for broadband applications. Subsequently, interferometric method is used to control the absorption coherently with extremely large contrast between the maximum and minimum absorptance. Compared with the results in literatures, the thin film CPAs proposed here show much more flexibility in both operation frequency and bandwidth.

Struggle between inner atoms of ultra-thin silicon film and both its dimer surfaces

Nanometer scale ultra-thin silicon films were investigated by using first principles calculation method in thickness upto 36 layers with three different constraint conditions of atoms and cells. The deformations of atoms in the film, accompanied by the dimer formations at both surfaces, were evaluated by the total energies, and were compared among their constraint conditions. The models with the free constraint conditions of atoms and cells had the highest energy gains due to the dimer formation. This trend was clear when the number of layers was equal to or less than 20. This is because the cells are free and can absorb the deviations of surface atoms in dimers by the deformation of internal atoms from the bulk positions, and these deviations propagate into the internal atoms. As a result, the deformations happened in the entire cell, which showed tilting of the z-axis. This means the models with no constrained atoms and cells exhibit an interaction between dimers on both surfaces intermediated by the atoms inside the films. The amount of deviation of this type of model was the largest among the models studied in this work. However, the differences in the energy gains among the three types of models were lower than 0.025eV when the number of layers was equal to or larger than 24.

Microstructural Property of Silicon Thin Films Deposited on Nanodiamonds Related to QALD Growth Condition

Quasi atomic layer deposition method has been successfully used to coat detonation nanodiamonds with ultrathin silicon film from decomposition of gaseous monosilane. Transmission electron microscopy observation indicates a continuous silicon coating could be obtained on every individual particle of nanodiamonds. The changes in the microstructural property of silicon thin films deposited at the temperatures of 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Energy dispersive spectroscopy techniques. The results show the phase transition of as-deposited silicon from a crystalline to an amorphous then to a crystalline phase with the temperature increase.

Ultra thin porous silicon films investigated by X‐ray reflectometry

AbstractIn this study, we report on structural variation of ultrathin of p‐type Porous Silicon (PS) films during the early stage growth process using X‐Ray Reflectometry (XRR). The PS samples were firstly characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements. The homogeneity and surface roughness of the PS films, which enable characterizing the PS films by XRR, were investigated by UV‐visible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. The PS layers were then analyzed by specular X‐Ray Reflectivity (XRR). XRR reveals a linear thickness behavior as a function of etching time, while the porosity increases before reaching a constant value around 72%. These results were compared to those obtained from other characterization. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

First Principles Analysis of Ultra-Thin Silicon Films with Dimer Structures

ABSTRACTThe impact of dimer formations at the surfaces of the internal atoms of silicon (Si) thin film was evaluated by examining silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and plate models. In the SOI models, a dimer formation was modeled at one side of the Si thin film. The plate models had two dimers at each surface, which had been considered as a Si bulk model in previous studies. First principles calculation showed that the deviations of Si atoms from the first to fourth layers of the SOI models did not differ remarkably from those of the plate models. The internal atoms deeper than the fifth layer showed near-zero deviation in some of the SOI models and had evident non-zero deviation in the other SOI models. All the SOI and plate models showed lower Si atom self-energy than in the Si bulk. The layer-to-layer distance of internal atoms in the films became longer than that of atoms in Si bulk. These results indicated that (i) Si films with dimer surfaces are relaxed by deviations in the whole film, and (ii) even the thick plate model with 32 layers dose not reveal the nature of Si bulk.