High-Quality Indium Phosphide Films and Nano-Network Grown Using Low-Cost Metal-Catalyzed Vapor–Liquid–Solid Method for Photovoltaic Applications

Growth of high-quality InP film is demonstrated by directly co-evaporating elemental In and P in a simple low-cost chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. By exploring the interplay between the metal-assisted vapor–liquid–solid and vapor–solid mechanisms, the authors present the growth of highly stoichiometric InP thin films or nano-network in a wide range of growth temperature from 560 to 720 °C. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal high optical quality of the as-grown InP film with PL bandwidth (≈49 meV) comparable to commercial InP wafer (≈41 meV). The versatility of this approach is demonstrated through successful growth of thin films on diverse substrates such as silicon, InP, and fused quartz. The effects of catalysts are also studied by comparing growths based on Au-catalyst with In-self-catalyst (without Au). The temperature dependence study of Au-catalyzed growth shows that higher growth temperature results in formation of larger grain sizes and continuous void-free polycrystalline InP films. Preliminary solar cell devices are fabricated on a p-type silicon with an indium-tin-oxide contact layer. It is believed that the new growth strategy provides a simpler, lower cost (both precursors and substrates) approach for producing high-quality InP thin film for the fabrication of high efficiency, low-cost solar cells.