Low Temperature Growth of Amorphous and Polycrystalline Silicon Films     from a Modified Inductively Coupled Plasma

Goto, Masashi; Toyoda, Hirotaka; Kitagawa, Masatoshi; Hirao, Takashi; Sugai, Hideo

doi:10.1143/jjap.36.3714

Cited by 86 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…For this reason, in the last decade a lot of research has been devoted to remote plasma techniques, where plasma generation, growth precursor transport, and deposition are geometrically separated. Some examples are: microwave generated plasmas, 12,13 inductively coupled plasmas ͑ICP͒, [14][15][16] and electron cyclotron resonance ͑ECR͒ plasmas. [17][18][19] The deposition rates obtained by these techniques seize also up at ϳ1 nm/s.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at very high growth rates by an expanding Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma

Kessels

Severens

Smets

et al. 2001

Journal of Applied Physics

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The properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited at very high growth rates (6–80 nm/s) by means of a remote Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma have been investigated as a function of the H2 flow in the Ar–H2 operated plasma source. Both the structural and optoelectronic properties of the films improve with increasing H2 flow, and a-Si:H suitable for the application in solar cells has been obtained at deposition rates of 10 nm/s for high H2 flows and a substrate temperature of 400 °C. The “optimized” material has a hole drift mobility which is about a factor of 10 higher than for standard a-Si:H. The electron drift mobility, however, is slightly lower than for standard a-Si:H. Furthermore, preliminary results on solar cells with intrinsic a-Si:H deposited at 7 nm/s are presented. Relating the film properties to the SiH4 dissociation reactions reveals that optimum film quality is obtained for conditions where H from the plasma source governs SiH4 dissociation and where SiH3 contributes dominantly to film growth. Conditions where ion-induced dissociation reactions of SiH4 prevail and where the contribution of SiH3 to film growth is much smaller lead to inferior film properties. A large contribution of very reactive (poly)silane radicals is suggested as the reason for this inferior film quality. Furthermore, a comparison with film properties and process conditions of other a-Si:H deposition techniques is presented.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at very high growth rates by an expanding Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma

Kessels

Severens

Smets

et al. 2001

Journal of Applied Physics

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show abstract

“…In this respect, one of the central questions is whether it is possible to deposit a-Si:H suitable for the application in thin solar cells at high growth rates (preferablyϾ1 nm/s). Several investigations have already addressed this question, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and recently it was shown that device-quality a-Si:H can be obtained even at a rate of 10 nm/s with the expanding thermal plasma. 11,12 This technique combines a high-pressure thermal plasma source with a low-pressure deposition chamber and is, therefore, a real remote plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Film growth precursors in a remote SiH4 plasma used for high-rate deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Kessels

Sanden

Schram

2000

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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The SiH4 dissociation products and their contribution to hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film growth have been investigated in a remote Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma which is capable of depositing device-quality a-Si:H at 10 nm/s. SiH3 radicals have been detected by means of threshold ionization mass spectrometry for different fractions of H2 in the Ar–H2-operated plasma source. It is shown that at high-H2 flows, SiH4 dissociation is dominated by hydrogen abstraction and that SiH3 contributes dominantly to film growth. At low-H2 flows, a significant amount of very reactive silane radicals, SiHx(x⩽2), is produced, as concluded from threshold ionization mass spectrometry on SiH2 and optical emission spectroscopy on excited SiH and Si. These radicals are created by dissociative recombination reactions of silane ions with electrons and they, or their products after reacting with SiH4, make a large contribution to film growth at low-H2 flows. This is corroborated by the overall surface reaction probability which decreases from ∼0.5 to ∼0.3 with increasing H2 fraction. The film properties improve with increasing H2 flow and device-quality a-Si:H is obtained at high H2 fractions where SiH3 dominates film growth. Furthermore, it is shown that at high-H2 flows the contribution of SiH3 is independent of the SiH4 flow while the deposition rate varies over one order of magnitude.

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“…The fabrication of nc-Si film with dense crystalline structure in our experiment can be attributed to ICP-CVD which generates remote plasma of high density [10][11][12] and use of He as a dilution gas instead of H 2 [18]. The merit of reduced ion bombardment to fabricate high The high substrate RF bias may enhance the acceleration of radicals and ions toward the substrate resulting in a decrease of crystallinity of a nc-Si film due to ion bombardment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…On the other hand, inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD), providing certain advantages such as high deposition rate and improved crystallinity of nc-Si film, can be used for fabrication of high quality nc-Si TFTs [4]. ICP-CVD employs remote plasma [10][11][12], which reduces troublesome ion bombardment problem issues. It is also important to note that ICP-CVD generates high density plasma as compared with PECVD [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High quality nanocrystalline silicon thin film fabricated by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition at 350°C

Han

Kim

Park

et al. 2008

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

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Low Temperature Growth of Amorphous and Polycrystalline Silicon Films from a Modified Inductively Coupled Plasma

Cited by 86 publications

References 18 publications

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at very high growth rates by an expanding Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at very high growth rates by an expanding Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma

Film growth precursors in a remote SiH4 plasma used for high-rate deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

High quality nanocrystalline silicon thin film fabricated by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition at 350°C

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