Study on silicon removal property and surface smoothing phenomenon by moderate-pressure microwave hydrogen plasma

MICROSTRUCTURAL STUDY OF SILICON NITRIDE WHISKERS PRODUCED BY NITRIDATION OF PLASMA-SPRAYED SILICON LAYERS

plasma-sprayed silicon layers have been used to produce silicon nitride layers with fibrous microstructure which optimizes fracture toughness and strength. SEM examination of the specimens shows that the surface is covered by fine needles and whiskers of Si3N4.In order to study the oxygen contamination effect as well as other contaminants introduced during spraying and nitridation processes, su...

Improved amorphous/crystalline silicon interface passivation by hydrogen plasma treatment

plasma treatment A. Descoeudres, L. Barraud, Stefaan De Wolf, B. Strahm, D. Lachenal, C. Guérin, Z. C. Holman, F. Zicarelli, B. Demaurex, J. Seif, J. Holovsky, and C. Ballif Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory, Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland Roth & Rau Switzerland SA, Rue de la...

Microwave Induced Remote Hydrogen Plasma (mirhp) Passivation of Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Rapid Surface Functionalization of Hydrogen-Terminated Silicon by Alkyl Silanols

Surface functionalization of inorganic semiconductor substrates, particularly silicon, has focused attention toward many technologically important applications, involving photovoltaic energy, biosensing and catalysis. For such modification processes, oxide-free (H-terminated) silicon surfaces are highly required, and different chemical approaches have been described in the past decades. However...

Internal pressure and surface tension of bare and hydrogen coated silicon nanoparticles.

We present a study of internal pressure and surface tension of bare and hydrogen coated silicon nanoparticles of 2-10 nm diameter as a function of temperature, using molecular dynamics simulations employing a reparametrized Kohen-Tully-Stillinger interatomic potential. The internal pressure was found to increase with decreasing particle size but the density was found to be independent of the pa...