Study on amorphous silicon thin film by aluminum-induced crystallization

With the rapid development photovoltaic industry, crystallization techniques play an important role in silicon thin film solar cells. In this paper, Amorphous silicon thin film and aluminum films were prepared by electron beam evaporation technique. The films after different annealing crystallization processes were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra and scanning electron microscopy. We have the emphasis on discussing the influence parameters for the amorphous silicon crystallization quality and growth mechanism. In addition, Al/Si interface was also studied. A layer exchange process occurs between Al layer and Si layer. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Lanzhou Institute of Physics, China.