23rd International Conference on Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors

August 23 - 28, 2009
Tutorials
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Four tutorials of 90 minutes each were given by very experienced and well known experts on Sunday, August 23. The tutorials were aimed both at graduate students and professional scientists interested in the fundamentals of research and in applications in the various topics.  The tutorial fee covered all 4 sessions which were given in sequence, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The fee  also covered coffee breaks and lunch and included an invitation to the welcome drinks at the end of the day.

Location
Mitland Hotel Utrecht, Ariënslaan 1, 3573 PT UTRECHT

A printable PDF document with the information about the tutorials can be downloaded.
9:00 h – 10:30 h:
Tutorial 1: Basic physics of disordered semiconductors
Prof. Dr. Martin Stutzmann (Walter Schottky Institute, Munich)

This tutorial will provide an introduction into the basic structural and electronic properties of disordered semiconductors. Starting from basic thermodynamic considerations, the differences between disordered glasses and over-constrained amorphous semiconductors will be discussed. Based on structural data such as the radial distribution function, we will then explore the expected electronic structure of disordered semiconductors and discuss important intrinsic aspects of amorphous semiconductors such as the origin and the role of band tails, localized versus delocalized electronic states, or coordination defects. Next, the technologically important issues of doping, auto-compensation, and metastable defects will be covered. Finally, we will use these concepts to address the even more complicated case of nano- or microcrystalline semiconductors, which constitute a non-linear combination of more or less well-known crystalline parts with less-known disordered grain boundary material.
10:30 h – 11:00 h:
Coffee break
11:00 h – 12:30 h:
Tutorial 2: Reactor design for thin-film Si deposition
Dr. Alan Howling (EPFL, Lausanne)

Uniformity of Si thin-film thickness and properties is crucial for large area, industrial applications. In this tutorial, some basic principles and plasma diagnostics of PECVD showerhead reactors will be considered regarding electromagnetics, gas flow and depletion, as well as the transient response at plasma ignition. Perturbations to the inherent uniformity of a showerhead reactor will be briefly discussed.
12:30 h – 13:30 h:
Lunch break
13:30 h – 15:00 h:
Tutorial 3: Characterization techniques
Dr. Reinhard Carius (IEF5-Photovoltaics, FZ Jülich)
 
This tutorial covers a wide range of characterization techniques commonly used for the characterization of thin-film semiconductors. The first part on electronic transport measurements deals with quasi-equilibrium transport such as dark conductivity, Hall effect and Thermopower (Seebeck coefficient). The second part addresses non-equilibrium transport, i.e. photoconductivity, CPM and time-of-flight. In the third optical absorption (T/R and PDS) will be briefly described. The last part will be on characterisation of microstructure by Raman, TEM and XRD.
15:00 h – 15:30 h:
Coffee break
15:30 h – 17:00 h:
Tutorial 4: Current and future applications
Dr. Bob Street (Palo Alto Research Center)
 
The tutorial will describe the main applications of amorphous and nanocrystalline semiconductors, including thin film transistor arrays, photovoltaics and flexible electronics, and will also discuss some of possible future opportunities. The emphasis will be on amorphous silicon and organic semiconductors, and how the material properties make them suitable for the various applications.
17:00 h – 19:00 h:
Welcome drinks