Recrystallization of amorphous silicon deposited on ultra thin microcrystalline silicon layers
This study reports on a method to reduce the thermal crystallization time and temperature of amorphous silicon films by initially depositing an ultra thin {micro}c-Si:H seed layer. After rapid thermal annealing (RTA), films were characterized by means of Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, reflection high energy electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and dark and photocurrent. The results show that the microcrystalline particles in the seed layer act as nucleation centers, promoting crystallization of a-Si:H at lower temperatures and at shorter times, compared to a-Si:H films deposited without any seed layer. Additionally, it was found that the seed layer affects the orientation of the crystallized films. The dark current increases abruptly over 4 orders of magnitude in the first 15 second anneal, then decreases as the time increases, and tends to saturate. The photocurrent has an opposite behavior. These transport results can be understood in terms of a change in defect density and band gap shrinkage.
- Research Organization:
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI ID:
- 20085517
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Technology - 1997, San Francisco, CA (US), 03/31/1997--04/04/1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: In: Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon technology--1997. Materials Research Society symposium proceedings, Volume 467, by Wagner, S.; Hack, M.; Schiff, E.A.; Schropp, R.; Shimizu, I. [eds.], 999 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
From amorphous to microcrystalline: Phase transition in rapid synthesis of hydrogenated silicon thin film in low frequency inductively coupled plasmas
The effect of hydrogen dilution on the hot-wire deposition of microcrystalline silicon