Symposium A: Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology

2012 MRS Spring Meeting logo

Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology

This symposium will cover thin-film silicon and silicon alloy materials and devices, including solar cells, thin film transistors, sensors, and other novel devices. The materials used in thin-film silicon devices have various microscopic structures such as amorphous, protocrystalline, nanocrystalline, microcrystalline, and poly-crystalline.  To tune the material properties, various silicon alloys have been developed.  In addition, components/layers that do not contain silicon in thin-film silicon devices, such as the top transparent contact and back reflectors for solar cells and dielectric layers in thin-film transistors, play important roles in device performance. Therefore, the symposium will cover a wide range of relevant materials and structures.  The growth techniques and fabrication methods are essential for developing advanced materials and devices with high throughputs.  Special emphasis will be given to materials obtained from high deposition rates. Both device applications and fundamental studies such as theory, simulation, and material characterization are encouraged.  New systems such as silicon nanodots, nanowires, and black silicon will be included to broaden the spectrum of the symposium.  A special session on thin-film silicon PV manufacturing is planned.  Optical enhancement with advanced light trapping with plasmonic scattering and periodic structured back reflectors is one of key areas for efficiency improvement in thin-film silicon solar cells.  A focus session and a panel discussion on this topic are also planned.

Session topics will include (but will not be limited to):

Focus session on thin-film silicon solar cells  

  • Thin-film Si solar-cell efficiency improvement
  • Solar-cell physics, modeling, and simulation
  • Conventional and advanced light trapping for optical enhancement
  • Light-induced degradation and module reliability
  • Thin-film PV manufacturing

Thin-film silicon transistors and other applications 

  • Thin-film Si TFT design and performance improvement
  • Silicon and dielectric material optimization for TFTs
  • TFT circuit design, applications, stability, and reliability
  • Sensors, imaging arrays, MEMS, and other novel devices

New silicon materials with nanostructures 

  • Fabrication of silicon nanowires, nanodots, and other nanostructured materials
  • Application of silicon nanostructured materials in solar cells
  • Single-grain silicon TFTs

Growth and crystallization  

  • Deposition mechanisms
  • Gas-phase, plasma chemistry, and in-situ diagnostics
  • High-rate-deposition techniques
  • Seed layers for large grain growth and low-temperature epi-Si growth
  • Thermal, laser, and metal-induced crystallization

Material characterization and modeling  

  • Structural, electronic, and optical characterization
  • Defect and hydrogen structures
  • Electron density of states and carrier transport
  • Mechanical properties
  • Metastability and impurities

A tutorial on topics from amorphous, nanocrystalline, and polycrystalline silicon science and technology is tentatively planned.  Further information will be included in the MRS Program that will be available online in January.

Invited Speakers Include:

A. Banerjee (United Solar Ovonic LLC),  C. Battaglia (IMT PV-Lab, EPFL, Switzerland), R. Biswas (Iowa State Univ.), K. Bittkau (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany), R. R. Collins (Univ. of Toledo), J. C. Grossman (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology), A. Hedler (Bosch Solar Thin Film GmbH, Germany), J. Im (Columbia Univ.), T. Kamei, (AIST, Japan), K. Lips (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany), X. Niu (Astronergy Solar, Inc., China), P. Rock i Cabarrocas (Ecole Polytechnique, France).

Symposium Organizers

Baojie Yan
United Solar Ovonic LLC
1100 W. Maple Rd.
Troy, MI 48084
Tel 248-519-5304, Fax 248-362-4442
byan@uni-solar.com 

Chuang Chuang Tsai
National Chiao Tung University
Dept. of Photonics and Display Institute
Rm. 514 CPT Bldg.
1001 Ta Hsueh Rd.
Hsinchu, Taiwan 30010, R. O. China
Tel 886-3-513-1297, Fax 886-3-573-7681
cctsai7@mail.nctu.edu.tw 

Helena Gleskova
University of Strathclyde
EEE Dept.
Glasgow, G1 1XW, United Kingdom
Tel 44-141-548-2061, Fax 44-141-552-4968
helena.gleskova@strath.ac.uk 

Toshiyuki Sameshima
Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology
2-24-16 Nakamachi, Koganei
Tokyo 184-8588, Japan
Tel 81-42-388-7109, Fax 81-42-388-7109
tsamesim@cc.tuat.ac.jp 

J. David Cohen
University of Oregon
Dept. of Physics
Eugene, OR 97403-1274
Tel 541-346-4775, Fax 541-436-3422
dcohen@uoregon.edu 

Administrative Contact:  
Mary Ann Woolf
University of Utah
Dept. of Physics
Rm. 201, 115 S 1400 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0830
Tel 801-581-4246, Fax 801-581-4246
woolf@physics.utah.edu 

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