Highly Conductive p-Type Silicon Carbon Alloys Deposited by Hot-Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition

P-type microcrystalline silicon carbide (mu c-SiC:H) alloys for application as a window layer in silicon based thin film solar cells were grown by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition using hydrogen diluted monomethylsilane and trimethylaluminum. Conductivities up to 0.1 S/cm were obtained for p-type material. The optical properties were studied by photothermal deflection spectroscopy. At photon energies below 1.25 eV, both free carrier and defect absorption lead to a high absorption coefficient. For photon energies >2.0 eV, the absorption coefficient is affected by the crystallinity and the structural composition. The structure of Al-doped mu c-SiC:H thin films were investigated by infrared and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that increase of the deposition pressure can compensate for the loss of crystallinity caused by Al-doping. At high deposition pressure (>100 Pa), increasing contributions of hexagonal SiC alloys, and separated carbon phases are observed. (C) 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics