Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells

Transition metal silicides have been studied extensively for many years due to their potential technological importance and applications. Recently, the semiconducting phase of iron disilicide (β-FeSi2) has received considerable attention due to its potential applications in optoelectronic and microe...

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Main Author: Tan, Khing Hong
Other Authors: Pey Kin Leong
Format: Theses and Dissertations
Language:English
Published: 2011
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/42899
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-428992023-07-04T17:37:24Z Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells Tan, Khing Hong Pey Kin Leong School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Microelectronics Centre DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Microelectronics Transition metal silicides have been studied extensively for many years due to their potential technological importance and applications. Recently, the semiconducting phase of iron disilicide (β-FeSi2) has received considerable attention due to its potential applications in optoelectronic and microelectronic areas. This is attributed to its direct bandgap of 0.86 eV that corresponds to ~1.5 µm of the optical fiber communication. In addition, β-FeSi2 is expected as a promising photovoltaic material with a theoretical conversion efficiency as high as 23% due to its ultrahigh optical absorption coefficient in the order of 105 cm-1 near the absorption edge. These properties, along with other features such as abundance of constituent elements, nearly lattice-matched to Si, and high thermal stability and oxidation resistance, have made β-FeSi2 one of the most attractive materials of choice for future generation thin film photovoltaic applications. In this work, both theoretical and experimental study of β-FeSi2 was explored. The theoretical study based on the first-principles calculations provides the fundamental understanding of various properties of β-FeSi2, including equilibrium crystal structure, bandgap properties, effects of native vacancy defects, and impurity doping in β-FeSi2. The experimental study involves the formation and structural, optical, and electrical characterization of sputtered and processed β-FeSi2 as well as eventual demonstration of semiconducting β-FeSi2-based heterojunction thin film solar cells on the Si platform. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EEE) 2011-02-17T07:52:40Z 2011-02-17T07:52:40Z 2010 2010 Thesis Tan, K. H. (2010). Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/42899 10.32657/10356/42899 en 213 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Microelectronics
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Microelectronics
Tan, Khing Hong
Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
description Transition metal silicides have been studied extensively for many years due to their potential technological importance and applications. Recently, the semiconducting phase of iron disilicide (β-FeSi2) has received considerable attention due to its potential applications in optoelectronic and microelectronic areas. This is attributed to its direct bandgap of 0.86 eV that corresponds to ~1.5 µm of the optical fiber communication. In addition, β-FeSi2 is expected as a promising photovoltaic material with a theoretical conversion efficiency as high as 23% due to its ultrahigh optical absorption coefficient in the order of 105 cm-1 near the absorption edge. These properties, along with other features such as abundance of constituent elements, nearly lattice-matched to Si, and high thermal stability and oxidation resistance, have made β-FeSi2 one of the most attractive materials of choice for future generation thin film photovoltaic applications. In this work, both theoretical and experimental study of β-FeSi2 was explored. The theoretical study based on the first-principles calculations provides the fundamental understanding of various properties of β-FeSi2, including equilibrium crystal structure, bandgap properties, effects of native vacancy defects, and impurity doping in β-FeSi2. The experimental study involves the formation and structural, optical, and electrical characterization of sputtered and processed β-FeSi2 as well as eventual demonstration of semiconducting β-FeSi2-based heterojunction thin film solar cells on the Si platform.
author2 Pey Kin Leong
author_facet Pey Kin Leong
Tan, Khing Hong
format Theses and Dissertations
author Tan, Khing Hong
author_sort Tan, Khing Hong
title Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
title_short Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
title_full Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
title_fullStr Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
title_full_unstemmed Theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
title_sort theoretical and experimental study of semiconducting iron disilicide and its applications to thin film solar cells
publishDate 2011
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/42899
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