Date of Graduation

5-2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Microelectronics-Photonics (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Microelectronics-Photonics

Advisor/Mentor

Naseem, Hameed A.

Committee Member

Ware, Morgan E.

Second Committee Member

Ang, Simon S.

Third Committee Member

Oliver, William F. III

Fourth Committee Member

Vickers, Kenneth G.

Keywords

Aluminum induced crystallization; Aluminum nanodots

Abstract

Combining the absorption abilities of amorphous silicon and the electron transport capabilities of crystalline silicon would be a great advantage to not only solar cells but other semiconductor devices. In this work composite films were created using molecular beam epitaxy and electron beam deposition interchangeably as a method to create metallic precursors. Aluminum induced crystallization techniques were used to convert an amorphous silicon film with a capping layer of aluminum nanodots into a film composed of a mixture of amorphous silicon and nanocrystalline silicon. This layer was grown into the amorphous layer by cannibalizing a portion of the amorphous silicon material during the aluminum induced crystallization. Characterization was performed on films and metallic precursors utilizing SEM, TEM, ellipsometry and spectrophotometer.

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