H - Electricity – 01 – L
Patent
H - Electricity
01
L
343/23, 148/3.1
H01L 45/00 (2006.01) C23C 14/00 (2006.01) C23C 14/06 (2006.01) C23C 14/32 (2006.01) C23C 16/22 (2006.01) H01L 29/16 (2006.01) H01L 31/20 (2006.01) C23C 16/44 (2006.01)
Patent
CA 1192819
ABSTRACT The production of improved photoresponsive amorphous alloys (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) and devices (142, 168, 178, 192, 198, 212), such as photovoltaic, photore- ceptive devices and the like; having improved wavelength threshold characteristics is made pos- sible by adding one or more band gap adjusting elements to the allows (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) and devices (142, 168, 178, 192, 198, 212) in varying amounts. The ad- justing element or elements are added in varying amounts at least to the active photoresponsive regions (150, 170, 172, 180, 186, 194, 208, 216) of amorphous devices (142, 168, 178, 192, 198, 212) for grading the band gaps thereof which con- tain silicon and fluorine, and preferably hy- drogen. One adjusting element is germanium which decreases the band gap from that of the materials without the adjusting element incorporated there- in. Other adjusting elements can be used such as nitrogen which increases the band gap. The sili- con and adjusting elements are concurrently com- bined in varying amounts and deposited as amor- phous alloys (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) by vapor deposition, sputtering or glow discharge decomposition. The addition of fluorine bonding and electronegativity to the alloy (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) acts as a compensating or altering ele- ment to reduce the density of states in the graded energy gap thereof. The fluorine bond strength allows the adjusting element(s) to be added to the alloy (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) to grade the band gap without reducing the electronic qualities of the alloy (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220). Hydrogen also acts as a compensating or altering element to complement f1uorine when utilized therewith. The compensating or altering element(s) can be added during deposition of the alloy (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) or following deposition. The addition of the adjusting ele- ment(s) to the alloys (118, 146, 148, 150, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 180, 186, 188, 194, 206, 208, 210, 214, 216, 218, 220) in varying amounts grades the band gap to increase sun energy utilization and to thus increase the photoabsorption effi- ciency for enhancing the device's photoresponse- ness without adding states in the gap which de- crease the efficiency of the devices (142, 168, 178, 192, 198, 212). The adjusting element(s) can be added in varying amounts by valve control or through the use of a shutter or by otherwise vary- ing the deposition mixture.
385402
Adler David
Ovshinsky Stanford R.
Energy Conversion Devices Inc.
Macrae & Co.
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