Radiation hardness investigation of PECVD silicon carbide layers for PV applications

Amorphous silicon carbide a-SiC:H layers were deposited on P-type Si(100) substrates at various deposition conditions by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technology using silane (SiH₄) methane (CH₄), hydrogen (H₂) and argon (Ar) gases. The concentration of elements in layers was determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and elastic recoil detection (ERD) analytical method simultaneously. Chemical compositions were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy. Amorphous structure of layers was verified by XRD method. Irradiation of samples by neutrons was performed at room temperature. No significance effect on the XRD spectra and IR spectra band features after neutron irradiation was observed. Intensity of Raman spectra band features was decreased after neutron irradiation. The measured currents after irradiation are greater (about 100 times) than the current before irradiation for all samples and rise up with neutron fluencies.