Modification of Deposition Process Parameters for Uniform Indium Layer Deposition

MODIFICATION OF DEPOSITION PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR UNIFORM INDIUM LAYER DEPOSITION Isaac Butt Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Sylvain X. Marsillac The need for more efficient light to energy converting cells has long been a subject of research and development. With abundant availability of solar energy that the earth receives, the photovoltaic industry has sought materials that could serve the purpose of great energy conversion. The photovoltaic industry is mainly dominated by Silicon owing to its abundant availability, reliability and economic cost. However, due to limitations on efficiency improvements, some focus has shifted toward III-V based solar cells with a great potential for attaining higher efficiency and multi-junction applications. However, the cost of the III-V materials is extremely high due to the cost of the raw materials, the need for a lattice-matched substrate for single crystal growth, and complex growth processes. Research groups have investigated direct non-epitaxial growth of thin poly-crystalline films using a MOCVD process and VLS growth on cheaper substrates [1,2]. To do so, it is important to develop a planar reaction template for the group III metal, which will prevent de-wetting of the seed layer from the substrate during growth. In this thesis, we study various deposition parameters (substrate, deposition rate, structure...) that improve the de-wetting of an Indium layer as a template for future III-V virtual substrate.