Low temperature epitaxial growth of thin film silicon by PECVD for use in solar cell applications

We report a novel method of growing crystalline silicon layers by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 340°C for solar cell application. Flash lamp annealing method was used for the seed formation on glass [1]. We optimized the precursor a-Si thickness to achieve 100% crystalline volume fraction with a large grain >; 10 um. The proper surface treatment was found to be essential for the growth of an epitaxial layer on a poly-Si seed layer.