Light induced changes in the amorphous—crystalline silicon heterointerface

The photostability of the amorphous—crystalline silicon heterointerface is investigated. It is revealed that the metastability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) causes significant light induced changes in the heterointerface. Unlike bulk a-Si:H, the photostability of the heterointerface is not controlled by the microstructural properties of a-Si:H but rather by the initial heterointerface properties. Interfaces that initially have low interface defect density show the greatest degradation while those that initially have high interface defect density actually show light-induced improvement. It is shown that the degree of light induced change in the interface defect density is linearly proportional to the natural logarithm of the initial interface defect density. Further, it is revealed that the kinetics of light-induced change in the heterointerface defect density can be faster or slower than light-induced changes in bulk a-Si:H films depending on the initial properties of the heterointerface. Light soaking measurements on heterointerfaces with doped a-Si:H films reveal that interface defect density of these structures improves with light soaking. It is proposed that this is caused by a combination of the high initial interface defect density of samples using doped a-Si:H films and reduced generation of defects near the heterointerface due to the enhanced field effect provided by the doped films.