Crystalline Fraction of Microcrystalline Silicon Films Prepared by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Using Pulsed Silane Flow

Abstract

Microcrystalline silicon (?c-Si) films have been prepared at 200?C by radio-frequency (rf: 13.56 MHz) plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using pulsed silane flow. The crystalline fraction, X c(Raman), of ?c-Si films approximately 200 nm thick is quantitatively determined by decomposing Raman spectra into three peaks: crystalline, intermediate (small-grain-size-crystalline), and amorphous. The effects of rf power on X c(Raman) and hydrogen content, C H, have been studied. X c(Raman) increases with increasing rf power and tends to saturate; the maximum value of X c(Raman) is 71%. With increasing rf power C H decreases to a minimum value of 4.5% and then increases. Hydrogen introduction into Si films overlapped with hydrogen elimination is responsible for the increase and saturation of X c(Raman) with rf power.

Growth, structure, and transport properties of thin (>10 nm) n-type microcrystalline silicon prepared on silicon oxide and its application to single-electron transistor

“…The crystalline fraction was estimated from the c-Si to a-Si:H TO phonon band peak area ratio in the Raman spectrum 30 and the grain size was estimated using a microcrystalline model. 31,32 The pseudodielectric function ͑imaginary part will be referred to as ͗⑀ 2 ͒͘ was measured by a spectral ellipsometer ͑SE͒ and analyzed using a multilayer optical model to determine the crystalline fraction for thin films.…”

Microscale Spatially Resolved Characterization of Highly Doped Regions in Laser-Fired Contacts for High-Efficiency Crystalline Si Solar Cells

“…C-AFM 386 data is in great agreement with Raman and PL data showed in 387 the first part of the work, where highly doped regions of the 388 contact processed at 1.43 W were detected at the border of the 389 contact. [18], and [19]. A. Roigé is with MATGAS Research Center, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (e-mail: aroige@matgas.org).…”

Amorphous, Polymorphous, and Microcrystalline Silicon Thin Films Deposited by Plasma at Low Temperatures

“…The crystallinity in the samples M6-M8 is dominated by the peak at 520 cm −1 related to the transverse-optic (TO) mode, which is also observed for crystalline silicon [43].…”

“…where I c is related to crystalline component at 520 cm , and I a the amorphous phase at 480 cm −1 [43]. In Table 6 the values of X C (Raman) obtained in the μc-Si:H films are shown.…”