Low temperature plasma deposition of silicon thin films: From amorphous to crystalline

Cabarrocas, P. Roca i; Cariou, Romain; Labrune, M.

doi:10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2011.12.113

Cited by 35 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…We obtained the same results for silicon films, for which conditions known to lead to hydrogenated polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) on glass lead to epitaxial growth when applied to (100)-oriented Si substrates [17,18,21]. Other research groups also found that a rather broad range of experimental parameters would eventually lead to unwanted epitaxial films on (100) Si substrates [22,23].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Epitaxial growth of silicon and germanium on (100)-oriented crystalline substrates by RF PECVD at 175 °C

Labrune

Bril

Patriarche³

et al. 2012

EPJ Photovolt.

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We report on the epitaxial growth of crystalline Si and Ge thin films by standard radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 175• C on (100)-oriented silicon substrates. We also demonstrate the epitaxial growth of silicon films on epitaxially grown germanium layers so that multilayer samples sustaining epitaxy could be produced. We used spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction to characterize the structure of the films (amorphous, crystalline). These techniques were found to provide consistent results and provided information on the crystallinity and constraints in such lattice-mismatched structures. These results open the way to multiple quantum-well structures, which have been so far limited to few techniques such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy or MetalOrganic Chemical Vapor Deposition.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 66%

Epitaxial growth of silicon and germanium on (100)-oriented crystalline substrates by RF PECVD at 175 °C

Labrune

Bril

Patriarche³

et al. 2012

EPJ Photovolt.

Self Cite

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“…This difference in growth mode between h100i and h111i surfaces is in line with earlier findings using PECVD. 37,38 The origin of this phenomenon has been elusive. Interestingly, this crystalline-orientation-dependent growth mode shows a striking resemblance with observations made for low-temperature epitaxial growth using MBE in ultrahigh vacuum conditions.…”

Section: A Determining Parameters For Epitaxial Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-temperature plasma-deposited silicon epitaxial films: Growth and properties

Demaurex¹,

Bartlomé²,

Seif³

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Physics

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Low-temperature (≤200 °C) epitaxial growth yields precise thickness, doping, and thermal-budget control, which enables advanced-design semiconductor devices. In this paper, we use plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition to grow homo-epitaxial layers and study the different growth modes on crystalline silicon substrates. In particular, we determine the conditions leading to epitaxial growth in light of a model that depends only on the silane concentration in the plasma and the mean free path length of surface adatoms. For such growth, we show that the presence of a persistent defective interface layer between the crystalline silicon substrate and the epitaxial layer stems not only from the growth conditions but also from unintentional contamination of the reactor. Based on our findings, we determine the plasma conditions to grow high-quality bulk epitaxial films and propose a two-step growth process to obtain device-grade material.

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“…Note that the same process conditions on <100> c-Si substrates have been shown to lead to epitaxial growth48. The SE spectra were modeled using the Tauc-Lorentz dispersion model for amorphous materials4950, and the Bruggeman effective medium approximation (BEMA) was used to determine the composition of μc-Si:H films5152.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling a simple method for the low temperature synthesis of silicon nanocrystals and monolithic nanocrystalline thin films

Kim

Johnson

Казанский

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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In this work, we present new results on the plasma processing and structure of hydrogenated polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) thin films. pm-Si:H thin films consist of a low volume fraction of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon matrix with medium range order, and they possess this morphology as a significant contribution to their growth comes from the impact on the substrate of silicon clusters and nanocrystals synthesized in the plasma. Quadrupole mass spectrometry, ion flux measurements, and material characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy all provide insight on the contribution to the growth by silicon nanocrystals during PECVD deposition. In particular, cross-section TEM measurements show for the first time that the silicon nanocrystals are uniformly distributed across the thickness of the pm-Si:H film. Moreover, parametric studies indicate that the best pm-Si:H material is obtained at the conditions after the transition between a pristine plasma and one containing nanocrystals, namely a total gas pressure around 2 Torr and a silane to hydrogen ratio between 0.05 to 0.1. From a practical point of view these conditions also correspond to the highest deposition rate achievable for a given RF power and silane flow rate.

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Low temperature plasma deposition of silicon thin films: From amorphous to crystalline

Cited by 35 publications

References 25 publications

Epitaxial growth of silicon and germanium on (100)-oriented crystalline substrates by RF PECVD at 175 °C

Epitaxial growth of silicon and germanium on (100)-oriented crystalline substrates by RF PECVD at 175 °C

Low-temperature plasma-deposited silicon epitaxial films: Growth and properties

Unravelling a simple method for the low temperature synthesis of silicon nanocrystals and monolithic nanocrystalline thin films

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