Spectroscopic review of hydrogenated, carbonated and oxygenated group IV alloys

Semiconductors based on group IV elements are widely used in the fields of micro-electronics, optics and photonics. The group IV alloys are processed using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and its opto-electrical properties are a result of the material composition and structure. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy are complementary and...

Opto-Electrical Properties of Group IV Alloys: The Inherent Challenges of Processing Hydrogenated Germanium

In this paper the opto-electrical nature of hydrogenated group IV alloys with optical bandgap energies ranging from 1.0 eV up to 2.3 eV are studied. The fundamental physical principles that determine the relation between the bandgap and the structural characteristics such as material density, elemental composition, void fraction and...

The impact of processing conditions and post-deposition oxidation on the opto-electrical properties of hydrogenated amorphous and nano-crystalline Germanium films

Low-cost multijunction photovoltaic devices are the next step in the solar energy revolution. Adding a bottom junction with a low bandgap energy material through plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processing could potentially provide a low-cost boost in conversion efficiency. A logical candidate for this low bandgap material is...