www.as‐se.org/ijpres International Journal of Power and Renewable Energy Systems Volume 1, 2014
Deposition of Amorphous Carbon Film Using Natural Palm Oil By Bias Assisted Pyrolysis‐CVD For Solar Cell Applications A. Ishak 1,3,*, K. Dayana 1, M. H. Mamat 1,2 , M. F. Malek 1, M. Rusop 1,2,**
1NANO‐ElecTronic Centre, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 2
NANO‐SciTech Centre, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA,
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 3
Facuty of Electrical Engineering,
UiTM Sarawak Kampus Kota Samarahan Jalan Meranek, Sarawak *ishak@sarawak.uitm.edu.my; **nanouitm@gmail.com Received 17 March 2014; Accepted 22 April 2014; Published 11 June 2014 © 2014 American Society of Science and Engineering Abstract In this paper, an in‐situ boron doped amorphous carbon (a‐C:B) film deposited by bias assisted pyrolysis‐CVD using natural palm oil as carbon source was reported. The effects of negative bias on the optical band gap, resistivity as well as conductivity and electronic properties of a‐C:B films have been explored by multiple analysis techniques such as UV‐vis spectroscopy, current‐ voltage (I‐V) measurement and solar simulator. We have observed negative bias ‐10 V and ‐20 V reduced the optical transparency and improved electrical properties of a‐C:B films. The optical band gap decreased from 2.3eV (no applied bias) to 2.2eV (with DC bias). The current voltage measurement revealed a rectifying characteristic formed by a‐C:B films and n‐type silicon. Furthermore, the negative bias has improved the electronic properties of a‐C:B film compared with 0 V bias. The open circuit voltage (VOC), current density (JSC), fill factor and efficiency at ‐20 V were 0.426V, 5.351mA/cm2, 0.243, and 0.553 %, respectively. Keywords Negative Bias; Pyrolysis‐CVD; Palm‐oil; Amorphous Carbon
Introduction A fossil based carbon precursors were conventionally used for finding many variety of allotropes carbon [1‐3]. There has been some reports on the use of natural precursor such as turpentine oil, eucalyptus oil, and camphor powder to produce allotropes carbon by using chemical vapor deposition technique [1‐3]. Beside of those precursors, a palm oil the other natural source have been used as carbon source to synthesize a vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNT) by chemical vapor deposition technique [3]. The palm oil is scientifically known as hexaeconoic acid which was derived from fibrous exocorp and mesacarp of the fruits of palm tree. It has contained carbon (67), hydrogen (127) and oxygen (8) to form the chemical binding of C67H127O8 [3]. DC bias voltage either positive or negative can help for giving extra energy through bombarding effect [5, 6]. Among deposition parameters, negative bias applied to the substrates could significantly change film properties due to enhancement of adatom mobility and the effect of ion bombardment [4‐6]. It determines the kinetic bombardment energies of the ions arriving on the substrate and can significantly affect the chemical composition, structure and residual stresses in the as‐deposited films. The amorphous carbon (a‐C) deposited from many types of precursors and methods showed a good potential use in amorphous carbon solar cells [7‐9]. However, it was reported as a weakly p‐ type in nature despite of very complex structure, high density of defect which restricted to dope efficiently and those factors were the main barrier for its application in various electronic devices [7‐9]. In order to solve that problem, the control of doping (boron) could reduce the existing of defect and at the same time modified the electronic properties [7‐9]. In fact, there have been reports [4‐6] about the influences of the substrate bias voltage on the structure and properties of carbon and as‐deposited metal oxide films. However, there is no many literatures reporting on the effect of DC negative bias on a‐C:B films from bio‐hydrocarbon palm oil precursor. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge,
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