Optoelectronic properties of nitrogenated amorphous carbon films synthesized by microwave surface wave plasma chemical vapor deposition system

The n-type nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (a-C:N) thin films have been grown by microwave (MW) surface wave plasma (SWP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system on silicon, quartz and ITO substrates at different nitrogen flow rates (I to 4 seem). The effects of nitrogen doping on chemical, optical, structural and electrical properties were studied through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Nanopics 2100/NPX200 surface profiler, UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and solar simulator measurements. Argon, acetylene and nitrogen are used as plasma sources. Optical band gap decreased and nitrogen atomic concentration (%) increased with increasing nitrogen flow rate as a dopant. The a-C:N/ p-Si based device exhibits photovoltaic behavior under illumination (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm(2)), with a maximum open-circuit voltage (V-oc), short-circuit current (J(sc)) and fill factor of 4.2 mV, 7.4 mu A/cm(2) and 0.25 respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.