Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films were deposited at a high rate of 0.8 nm s−1 by conventional (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from SHi4/H2 gas mixture at a low temperature of 200 °C. The effects of hydrogen dilution, radio frequency power density, substrate temperature and deposition pressure on the crystalline volume fraction and the deposition rate of films were systematically investigated. The results show that the high hydrogen dilution and the substrate temperature are favourable for improving the crystallinity properties. The high deposition rate requires high power density over 0.7 W cm−2 in combination with high deposition pressure above several hundreds of Pa to overcome the degradation of film quality.
Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films were fabricated from SiH4 with H2 dilution at a low substrate temperature of 200 o C by the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. A high deposition rate over 0.75 nm/s can be achieved. Raman scattering spectral measurements revealed that the crystalline fraction and grain size increased with the increase in hydrogen dilution ratio. Fourier transform infrared spectrum measurements showed that the hydrogen content decreased and the Si-H bonding configuration changed mainly from SiH to SiH2 with the increase in hydrogen dilution ratio. This suggested that the hydrogen dilution played an important role in the low-temperature growth of nanocrystalline silicon thin film. The growth mechanism is discussed in terms of a surface diffusion model and hydrogen etching effects.
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