Microcrystalline Si films grown at low temperatures (90-220 deg. C) with high rates in atmospheric-pressure VHF plasma

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3159887· OSTI ID:21359286

Kakiuchi, Hiroaki; Ohmi, Hiromasa; Ouchi, Kentaro; Tabuchi, Keita; Yasutake, Kiyoshi ^[1]

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1. Department of Precision Science and Technology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)

This work deals with the structural properties of microcrystalline silicon (muc-Si:H) films grown at low temperatures (90-220 deg. C) with high rates in atmospheric-pressure He/H{sub 2}/SiH{sub 4} plasma, which is excited by a 150 MHz very high frequency power using a porous carbon electrode. This plasma permits to enhance the chemical reactions both in gas phase and on the film-growing surface, while suppressing ion impingement upon the surface. Raman crystalline volume fractions of the muc-Si:H films are studied in detail as functions of film thickness and substrate temperature (T{sub sub}). The results show that the muc-Si:H film deposited with 50 (SCCM) (SCCM denotes standard cubic centimeters per minute at STP) SiH{sub 4} has no amorphous transition layers at the film/substrate interface in spite of the high deposition rate of 6.4 nm/s, which is verified by the cross sectional observations with a transmission electron microscope. In addition, the T{sub sub} dependence of Raman crystallinity of the muc-Si:H films indicates that a highly crystallized muc-Si:H film grows even when T{sub sub} is reduced to 90 deg. C. Further systematic studies are needed for both device applications and deposition on thermally sensitive plastic materials.

• OSTI ID: 21359286
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 106; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL COATING
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DEPOSITION
ELECTRODES
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
FILMS
FREQUENCY RANGE
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IONS
MATERIALS
MHZ RANGE
MHZ RANGE 100-1000
MICROSCOPY
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SILICON COMPOUNDS
PLASMA
POROUS MATERIALS
RAMAN SPECTRA
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SEMIMETALS
SILANES
SILICON
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SPECTRA
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE COATING
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY