Metal Induced Growth of Si Thin Films and NiSi Nanowires
Author | : |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 15 |
Release | : 2010 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:610017413 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (13 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Thin film silicon has many useful purposes. Among the applications are solar cells and thin film transistors. This project involves a new and potentially lower cost method to produce thin silicon films. The method is called metal induced growth (MIG). A thin catalyst metal layer deposited on a foreign low cost substrate serves as the basis for growth of a nanocrystalline silicon thin film with thickness of 5-10 microns and preferred orientation of (220). The silicon deposition by magnetron sputtering on the heated substrate resulted in columnar structured grains having a diameter up to about 0.5 microns. Schottky barrier solar cells fabricated on these films gave a photocurrent of about 5 mA/sq cm and open circuit voltage of 0.25 volts. A modified process gave NiSi crystalline nanowires with length up to 10 microns and diameter of about 50 nm.