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An in situ XPS study of growth of ITO on amorphous hydrogenated Si: Initial stages of heterojunction formation upon processing of ITO/a‐Si:H based solar cell structures
Author(s) -
Diplas Spyros,
Romanyuk Andriy,
Thøgersen Annett,
Ulyashin Alexander
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201431773
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , amorphous solid , materials science , dangling bond , sputter deposition , sputtering , heterojunction , indium tin oxide , analytical chemistry (journal) , ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy , solar cell , transmission electron microscopy , chemical engineering , thin film , silicon , crystallography , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , engineering , chromatography
In this work we studied the interface growth upon deposition of indium‐tin oxide (ITO) on amorphous hydrogenated Si (a‐Si:H)/crystalline Si (c‐Si) structures. The analysis methods used were X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) in combination with in situ film growth with magnetron sputtering. The analysis was complemented with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the deposited films. The sputtering equipment was attached to the XPS spectrometer and hence early stage film growth was observed without breaking the vacuum. It was shown that during early deposition stages ITO is reduced by a‐Si:H. The reduction is accompanied with formation of metallic In and Sn at the interface. Formation of Sn is more enhanced on a‐Si substrates whilst formation of In is more dominant on c‐Si substrates. The reduction effect is less intense for amorphous hydrogenated Si as compared to crystalline Si and this is attributed to stronger presence of dangling bonds in the latter than the former.