Down-Shifter luminescent features engineering in amorphous silicon by femtosecond laser

Abstract

In the present work we report investigations of structural and photoluminescence properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses. We observed that femtosecond laser irradiation provided non-uniform a-Si:H structure modification. Visible luminescence is observed from the composite of SiO2 with embedded silicon nanocrystals produced by femtosecond laser irradiation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film in air. The photoluminescence originates from the defect states at the interface between silicon crystallites and SiO2 matrix. The method could be used for fabrication of luminescent layers to increase energy conversion of a-Si:H solar cells.