Comparative Study of Solid-Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Deposited by Hot-Wire CVD, Plasma-Enhanced CVD, and Electron-Beam Evaporation
Solid-phase crystallization (SPC) rates are compared in amorphous silicon films prepared by three different methods: hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and electron-beam physical vapor deposition (e-beam). Random SPC proceeds approximately 5 and 13 times slower in PECVD and e-beam films, respectively, as compared to HWCVD films. Doping accelerates random SPC in e-beam films but has little effect on the SPC rate of HWCVD films. In contrast, the crystalline growth front in solid-phase epitaxy experiments propagates at similar speed in HWCVD, PECVD, and e-beam amorphous Si films. This strongly suggests that the observed large differences in random SPC rates originate from different nucleation rates in these materials while the grain growth rates are relatively similar. The larger grain sizes observed for films that exhibit slower random SPC support this suggestion.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 978477
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology - 2007: Proceedings of the Materials Research Society Symposium, 9-13 April 2007, San Francisco, California; Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol. 989; Related Information: Paper No. 0989-A16-04
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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