On the surface roughness development of hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at low growth rates

Wank, MA; Swaaij, van Racmm René; Sanden, van de Mcm Richard

doi:10.1063/1.3179151

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…At 8.8 eV/Si atom very smooth films below 20 Ǻ d s are grown, otherwise typically obtained in our ETP-CVD reactor only at growth rates around 1 Ǻ / s or at higher substrate temperatures. 29 Since all depositions had the same deposition time of 6.15 min we can also observe the increase in deposition rate above 4.8 eV/Si atom, which can be concluded from the increase in final bulk film thickness. The surface roughness at 3000 Ǻ bulk film thickness as a function of deposited energy per Si atom can be seen in Fig.…”

Section: B Materials Analysismentioning

confidence: 78%

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Wank

Swaaij

Kudlacek

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

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We have applied pulse-shaped biasing to the expanding thermal plasma deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon at substrate temperatures ∼200 °C and growth rates around 1 nm/s. Substrate voltage measurements and measurements with a retarding field energy analyzer demonstrate the achieved control over the ion energy distribution for deposition on conductive substrates and for deposition of conductive materials on nonconductive substrates. Presence of negative ions/particles in the Ar–H2–SiH4 plasma is deduced from a voltage offset during biasing. Densification of the material at low Urbach energies is observed at a deposited energy <4.8 eV/Si atom and attributed to an increase in surface mobility of mobile species as well as well as surface atom displacement. The subsequent increase in Urbach energy >4.8 eV/Si atom is attributed to bulk atom displacement in subsurface layers. We make the unique experimental abservation of a decreasing Tauc band gap at increasing total hydrogen concentration—this allows to directly relate the band gap of amorphous silicon to the presence of nanovoids in the material.

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Section: B Materials Analysismentioning

confidence: 78%

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Wank

Swaaij

Kudlacek

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…In the past years, thin film surfaces of oxides, metals, alloys, polymers, nitrides, semiconductors, hydrogenated amorphous carbon/Si, nanocomposites, and DLC grown by techniques such as electrodeposition, sputtering, oblique, and glancing angle depositions, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), laser depositions, evaporation, and thermal or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been studied extensively for scaling concepts. Studied materials included amorphous, polycrystalline, microcrystalline, epitaxial, and nanostructured systems 13–27. Among the different techniques used for the deposition of these materials, PECVD despite its wide‐spread use and great deal of flexibility to control the microstructure of thin films, have received little attention on the analysis within the concepts of DST.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Dynamics of SiO₂‐like Films on Polymers Grown by DBD Assisted CVD at Atmospheric Pressure

Premkumar¹,

Starostin²,

Vries³

et al. 2012

Plasma Processes & Polymers

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The development of the morphology and surface roughness of amorphous SiO2‐like films, on various polymeric substrates was analyzed by atomic force microscopy. The inorganic oxide films were deposited from organo‐silicon precursors with different reactive gases using dielectric barrier discharge assisted chemical vapor deposition (DBD‐CVD) at atmospheric pressure in a roll‐to‐roll configuration. Detailed study on the roughness statistical parameters characterizing morphology shows that DBD‐CVD films grow in a conformal and layer‐by‐layer like fashion on polymers very similar to films produced by atomic layer deposition process. Independent of substrate (planarised and non‐planarised polyethylene‐2,6‐napthalate) and methodology used to build the thickness as stacks or single layers, the films were found to be smooth, both locally and globally, and show negligible development of roughness with thickness (≤350 nm). The scaling exponents observed, show that the film growth does not fall into any of the universality classes that have been reported so far.

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“…The roughness built in this phase is about 50Å for high dilutions and only 10Å for low dilutions. Such a strong roughening phase has been reported before by RTSE studies [7,8]. Subsequently film growth continues in the steady growth phase, in which most of the bulk film growth occurs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Influence of hydrogen dilution on surface roughness development of a‐Si:H thin films grown by remote plasma deposition

Wank

Illiberi

Tichelaar

et al. 2010

Phys. Status Solidi (c)

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Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) films are grown at different hydrogen dilutions. For high dilutions we observe a discrepancy in the surface roughness analysis between real‐time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. With RTSE a much higher roughness layer thickness is measured than with AFM. Additionally we observe what appears to be a strong roughening phase in the first 30‐50 nm of film growth for all conditions. A mechanism that involves the formations of a hydrogenrich overlayer and etching of higher hydrides in this overlayer is suggested.This mechanism explains the difference in RTSE roughness layer thickness evolution. At higher hydrogen dilutions, we obtain a thicker overlayer dominated by lower hydrides. RTSE interprets this overlayer as additional surface roughness and consequently overestimates the surface roughness for higher dilutions. The initial strong roughening phase is related to the built‐up of this over‐layer. In this phase, we obtain much denser films compared to the bulk film. The presence of columnar growth at higher dilutions is attributed to reduced surface mobility under these conditions (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

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On the surface roughness development of hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at low growth rates

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Surface Dynamics of SiO₂‐like Films on Polymers Grown by DBD Assisted CVD at Atmospheric Pressure

Influence of hydrogen dilution on surface roughness development of a‐Si:H thin films grown by remote plasma deposition

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On the surface roughness development of hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited at low growth rates

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited under accurately controlled ion bombardment using pulse-shaped substrate biasing

Surface Dynamics of SiO2‐like Films on Polymers Grown by DBD Assisted CVD at Atmospheric Pressure

Influence of hydrogen dilution on surface roughness development of a‐Si:H thin films grown by remote plasma deposition

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Surface Dynamics of SiO₂‐like Films on Polymers Grown by DBD Assisted CVD at Atmospheric Pressure