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Amorphous Silicon Precipitates in (100) c-SI Films Grown by ECRCVD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

M. Birkholz ,
J. Platen ,
I. Sieber ,
W. Bohne ,
J. Röhrich  and
W. Fuhs
M. Birkholz
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
J. Platen
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
I. Sieber
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
W. Bohne
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
J. Röhrich
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
W. Fuhs
Affiliation:
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Abteilung Photovoltaik, Rudower Chaussee 5, D - 12489 Berlin
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Abstract

Silicon films were grown on (100) n-Si with an electron-cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECRCVD) system by decomposition of SiH4 at 325°C. Structure and composition of thin films were investigated by SEM, Raman spectroscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) and TEM. Excellent epitaxial growth was achieved for some hundred nm thickness. For more than 1 μm thick films, however, SEM revealed the occurrence of conical structures orientated upside-down with their basal plane in the film surface. Depth-profiling of the elemental composition of thin films by means of ERDA showed the hydrogen content CH to exhibit a pronounced increase with increasing film thickness. Raman spectroscopy evidenced the coexistence of c-Si and a-Si:H by the occurrence of two bands at 520 and 480 cm-1, the ratio of which was found to depend sensitively upon the position of the laser spot on the sample. All experimental results could be consistently explained by assuming the conical precipitates to consist of a-Si:H which was finally proven by coherent electron beam diffraction (CEBD).

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 557: Symposium A – Amorphous and Heterogeneous Silicon Thin Films—Fundamentals to Devices—1999 , 1999 , 555
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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