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During the formation of Si nanocrystals (Si NC) in Si$_x$C$_{1-x}$ layers viasolid-phase crystallization, the unintended formation of nanocrystalline SiCreduces the minority carrier lifetime and therefore the performance ofSi$_x$C$_{1-x}$ as an absorber layer in solar cells. A significant reduction inthe annealing time may suppress the crystallization of the SiC matrix whilemaintaining the formation of Si NC. In this study, we investigated thecrystallization of stoichiometric SiC and Si-rich SiC using conventional rapidthermal annealing (RTA) and nonequilibrium millisecond range flash lampannealing (FLA). The investigated Si$_x$C$_{1-x}$ films were prepared byplasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and annealed at temperatures from700${\deg}$C to 1100${\deg}$C for RTA and at flash energies between 34 J/cm$^2$and 62 J/cm$^2$ for FLA. GIXRD and FTIR were conducted to investigate hydrogeneffusion, Si and SiC NC growth, and SiC crystallinity. Both the Si content andthe choice of the annealing process affect the crystallization behavior. It isshown that under certain conditions, FLA can be successfully utilized for theformation of Si NC in a SiC matrix, which closely resembles Si NC in a SiCmatrix achieved by RTA. The samples must have excess Si, and the flash energyshould not exceed 40 J/cm$^2$ and 47 J/cm$^2$ for Si$_{0.63}$C$_{0.37}$ andSi$_{0.77}$C$_{0.23}$ samples, respectively. Under these conditions, FLAsucceeds in producing Si NC of a given size in less crystalline SiC than RTAdoes. This result is discussed in terms of nucleation and crystal growth usingclassical crystallization theory. For FLA and RTA samples, an oppositerelationship between NC size and Si content was observed and attributed eitherto the dependence of H effusion on Si content or to the optical absorptionproperties of the materials, which also depend on the Si content.

Formation of silicon nanocrystals in silicon carbide using flash lamp annealing