Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films
Abstract Surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are essential for their application in solar cell devices. The effective minority carrier lifetime of a semiconductor material is influenced by both its surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime. We found that th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2017-03-01
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| Series: | Nanoscale Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-017-2006-z |
| _version_ | 1797708042881466368 |
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| author | Shinya Kato Tatsuya Yamazaki Yasuyoshi Kurokawa Shinsuke Miyajima Makoto Konagai |
| author_facet | Shinya Kato Tatsuya Yamazaki Yasuyoshi Kurokawa Shinsuke Miyajima Makoto Konagai |
| author_sort | Shinya Kato |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are essential for their application in solar cell devices. The effective minority carrier lifetime of a semiconductor material is influenced by both its surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime. We found that the effective carrier lifetime of SiNWs passivated with aluminum oxide (Al2O3) was significantly influenced by the fabrication process of SiNWs. We could not measure the effective lifetime of SiNWs fabricated by thermal annealing of amorphous silicon nanowires. Nevertheless, the SiNWs fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching of polycrystalline silicon displayed an effective lifetime of 2.86 μs. Thermal annealing of SiNWs at 400 °C in a forming gas improved the effective carrier lifetime from 2.86 to 15.9 μs because of the improvement in surface passivation at the interface between the SiNWs and Al2O3 layers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:16:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2f0d6be1e6a84feeb40638ae0aa973ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1931-7573 1556-276X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:16:30Z |
| publishDate | 2017-03-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nanoscale Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-2f0d6be1e6a84feeb40638ae0aa973ba2023-09-03T02:32:46ZengSpringerOpenNanoscale Research Letters1931-75731556-276X2017-03-011211710.1186/s11671-017-2006-zInfluence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire FilmsShinya Kato0Tatsuya Yamazaki1Yasuyoshi Kurokawa2Shinsuke Miyajima3Makoto Konagai4Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of TechnologyGraduate School of Engineering, Nagoya UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of TechnologyAdvanced Research laboratories, Tokyo City UniversityAbstract Surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are essential for their application in solar cell devices. The effective minority carrier lifetime of a semiconductor material is influenced by both its surface passivation and bulk carrier lifetime. We found that the effective carrier lifetime of SiNWs passivated with aluminum oxide (Al2O3) was significantly influenced by the fabrication process of SiNWs. We could not measure the effective lifetime of SiNWs fabricated by thermal annealing of amorphous silicon nanowires. Nevertheless, the SiNWs fabricated by metal-assisted chemical etching of polycrystalline silicon displayed an effective lifetime of 2.86 μs. Thermal annealing of SiNWs at 400 °C in a forming gas improved the effective carrier lifetime from 2.86 to 15.9 μs because of the improvement in surface passivation at the interface between the SiNWs and Al2O3 layers.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-017-2006-zSilicon nanowirePassivationMinority carrier lifetime |
| spellingShingle | Shinya Kato Tatsuya Yamazaki Yasuyoshi Kurokawa Shinsuke Miyajima Makoto Konagai Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films Nanoscale Research Letters Silicon nanowire Passivation Minority carrier lifetime |
| title | Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films |
| title_full | Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films |
| title_fullStr | Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films |
| title_short | Influence of Fabrication Processes and Annealing Treatment on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Silicon Nanowire Films |
| title_sort | influence of fabrication processes and annealing treatment on the minority carrier lifetime of silicon nanowire films |
| topic | Silicon nanowire Passivation Minority carrier lifetime |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-017-2006-z |
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