Nanostructured silicon and its application to solar cells, position sensors and thin film transistors

Rodrigo Ferrão Paiva Martins (1, 2) , Leandro Raniero (3) , Luis Pereira (1) , Daniel Costa (1) , Hugo Aguas (1) , Sonia Pereira (1) , Leonardo Silva (1) , Isabel Ferreira (1) , Elvira Fortunato (1) , Alexandra Goncalves (4)

1 FCT NOVA - Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia = School of Science & Technology
2 Materials Science Department
3 Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento
4 ULISBOA - Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon

This paper reports the performances of small area solar cells, 128 linear integrated position sensitive detector arrays and thin film transistors based on nanostructured silicon thin films produced by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique, close to the onset of dusty plasma conditions, within the transition region from amorphous to microcrystalline. The small area solar cells produced in a modified single chamber reactor exhibit very good electrical characteristics, with an efficiency exceeding 9 %. The 128 integrated position sensitive detector arrays, based on similar pin structures, allow real time 3D object imaging with a resolution higher than 90 lp/mm. The thin film transistors produced exhibit field effect mobility of 2.47 cm2V-1s-1, threshold voltages of 2 V, on/off ratios larger than 107 and sub-threshold slopes of 0.32 V/decade, which are within the best results known for this type of devices. Keywords: nanostructured silicon; thin film devices; position sensitive detectors, TFTs, solar cells

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Rodrigo Ferrão Paiva Martins, Leandro Raniero, Luis Pereira, Daniel Costa, Hugo Aguas, et al.. Nanostructured silicon and its application to solar cells, position sensors and thin film transistors. Philosophical Magazine, 2009, 89 (28-30), pp.2699-2721. ⟨10.1080/14786430902886910⟩. ⟨hal-00519085⟩