Silicon carbide nanolayers as a solar cell constituent

Abstract

Thin films of predominantly amorphous n-type SiC were prepared by non-reactive magnetron sputtering in an Ar atmosphere. A previously synthesized SiC was used as a solidstate target. Deposition was carried out on a cold substrate of ptype Si (100) with a resistivity of 2Ωcm. The Raman spectrum shows a dominant band at 982 cm-¹, i.e., in the spectral region characteristic for SiC. It was found that the root mean squareroughness varies from about 0.3 nm to 9.0 nm when the film thickness changes from about 2 nm to 56 nm, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy studies showed that SiC thin films consist predominantly of an amorphous phase with inclusions of very fine nanocrystallites. A heterostructure consisting of a p-type Si (100) and a layer of predominantly amorphous n-type SiC was fabricated and studied