Aluminium-induced crystallisation of amorphous silicon: influence of oxidation conditions

Seed layer concepts are promising for polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells. Such seed layers can be formed by the aluminium-induced layer exchange process. In this process an oxide layer between Al and a-Si is needed to form a continuous seed layer. The role of this oxide layer is under investigation in this paper. We found that the oxide layer thickness determines the silicon grain size in the seed layer whereas the annealing temperature determines the process time.