Fabrication of composite nanomaterials for thin film amorphous silicon solar cells

A material with the precise combination of amorphous silicon and polycrystalline silicon would be able to take advantage of the high absorption capabilities of amorphous silicon and the electron transport capabilities of polycrystalline silicon. Polycrystalline nanostructures in the form of wires can also take advantage of other properties of light absorption, trapping and scattering inherent in nanowire structures. These properties of high absorption and electron transport in one device would lead to advances in the search for highly efficient low cost solar cells and sensors. In this work a thin film material composed of an array of polycrystalline silicon nanostructures imbedded in amorphous silicon is fabricated. The crystallization of the amorphous silicon in nanometer select areas was achieved through aluminum induced crystallization. The precise control of crystallization was achieved through a focused ion beam created template of SiO2. The film was characterized utilizing SEM and TEM.