Structural and optical properties study of nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si) thin films deposited on porous aluminum by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

▶ In this paper we report detail investigation and correlation between micro-structural and optical properties of nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) deposited by plasma enhancement chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on porous aluminum structure. ▶ The effect of anodisation currents on the microstructure of aluminium surface layer and nc-Si films was systematically studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Tranmission Electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). ▶ The optical constants (n and k as a function of wavelength) of the films were obtained using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in the UV-vis-NIR regions.