Nucleation-step study of silicon homoepitaxy for low-temperature fabrication of Si solar cells

Abstract

Smooth nucleation of silicon has been achieved as a critical step in epitaxial growth process using ultra high vacuum chemical vapor deposition system at 250°C. Proper conditions were achieved by studying the effect of key nucleation parameters such as plasma power, hydrogen dilution and deposition temperature. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy has been employed to study rough nucleation condition in order to achieve perfect nucleation step, which resulted in high quality epilayers.