We observe that under certain conditions, hydrogenated amorphous silicon grown by the hotwire chemical-vapor deposition technique has dark conductivities varying by several orders of magnitude across the same film. Similarly, the ambipolar diffusion lengths fluctuate significantly in these films, yet there is not much evidence of a corresponding structural change. We attribute this electronic nonuniformity to electrons from the filament reaching insulating substrates and charging the substrate negatively in some regions, thus causing films to grow with inferior material properties in those regions. The effect diminishes with increasing substrate temperature, where the film itself may be conductive enough to remove charge reaching the growing surface. Wellgrounded, conducting substrates seem to be immune from this effect. We reduce this effect by putting a conductive grid on insulating substrates, of close enough spacing to remove the charge, and measure the material properties of the film grown between the conductive elements of the grid.

Nanostructured silicon thin films (ns-Si:H), consisting of a two-phase mixture of amorphous and ordered material, were obtained by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) under a wide range of plasma conditions. The key to embedding Si-ordered particles in the amorphous Si matrix was the formation of silicon clusters in the gas phase (diameter < 2nm) under conditions of plasma polymerization, and their incorporation into the growing films. The crystallization induced by thermal annealing in these nanostructured films can be attained faster than in conventional a-Si:H thin films, because the silicon-ordered particles cause a heterogeneous nucleation process in which they act as seeds for crystallization. In this work, we present a detailed structural characterization by using electron and X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectroscopy. The crystallization dynamics were studied in-situ by Raman spectroscopy.

We have introduced real time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) for characterization of the solid phase crystallization (SPC) of intrinsic and n-type amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. RTSE has several advantages in the study and design of SPC processes for thin film transistor and solar cell fabrication. These include the capability of obtaining (i) calibration data that yield the near surface temperature of the film during processing, (ii) the volume fraction of the crystalline Si component of the film continuously versus time during SPC, and (iii) a measurement of the grain size and quality of the final polycrystalline Si film. For the thin layers studied here (∼150-1000 Å), we demonstrate excellent fitting of the SPC dynamics to the Avrami-Johnson-Mehl theory for random nucleation and two-dimensional crystallite growth. For a-Si:H n-layers, the crystallization time over the range from 565 to 645°C appears to be weakly activated with an energy of 0.6 eV.

We have proposed a new technique for high crystallinity polycrystalline SiGe thin films with homogeneous crystallinity. The key technologies, i.e., direct nuclei formation on the substrate surface and selective growth of the resulting nuclei to gains, were established irrespective of film composition in a reactive thermal CVD with GeF4 and Si2H6. High crystallinity poly-Si0.05Ge0.95 thin films could be obtained on SiO2 substrates at 375°C and poly-Si0.95Ge0.05 thin films at 450°C by simply tuning the growth pressure for selective growth of the nuclei after creating the nuclei on the substrates. We demonstrated that not only the crystallinity but also the electrical properties of the resulting films were improved very much compared with those of continuously grown films.

Partial equilibrium calculations simulating the kinetically controlled low pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon from silane are presented. Firstly, the sticking coefficient of each reactive species (σ) is evaluated by means of homogeneous calculations in the gas phase. Then, in a series of heterogeneous calculations, the influence of σ on the formation of the film is considered a) by reducing the quantities of the reactive species in the input gas, and b) by modifying their thermodynamic data. The obtained composition of the gas phase is used to estimate its supersaturation and the driving force for the deposition of silicon. The results are correlated with the morphology of the films deposited in equivalent conditions and, in view of this correlation, the validity of the presented approach is discussed.

Phosphorus-doped poly-Si films were studied with Raman spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. We determine strain and grain size and compare with a structural analysis using plan-view transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. We analyze the derivatives of our ellipsometry data (peak shifts and broadenings) using analytical lineshapes, which are affected by grain size, film thickness, doping, and inhomogeneity, but only minimally by macroscopic biaxial strain.

The polycrystalline silicon films with grain size of 1 μ m have been successful deposited on glass substrates using ECR-CVD with hydrogen dilution method at 250°C and without any thermal annealing. The deposited poly-Si films exhibit severe “hill and valley” surface roughness and facets structures. The X-ray diffraction spectra show that the dominant crystal textures are <220> and <111> orientations. The leaf-like two-fold symmetrical grain shape and the corresponding crystallography diffraction pattern indicate the orientation of largest grain is <110>. The dark field TEM image also shows the upside octahedral facets shape. Considering the effect of orientation on deposition rate and symmetry, the possible facets orientation should be <311>. Moreover, the grain sizes of poly-Si thin films deposited on bare Si wafer and on oxidized Si substrates or glass are almost the same. The facetting and textural structures can be attributed to the surface free energy change induced by the adatom quasi-liquid layer which is composed by the radicals and energetic atomic hydrogen. This adatom quasi-liquid layer would dramatically change the surface diffusion processes of adsorbed precursors and surface free energy of low index planes. Therefore, the SiHn radicals and SinHm molecular precursors with enhanced surface mobility would relax to their stable sites and form the crystalline silicon clusters.

High quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films have been prepared by a simple “uninterrupted growth/annealing” plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique, combined with a subtle boron-compensated doping. These a-Si:H films possess a high photosensitivity over 106, and exhibit no degradation in photoconductivity and a low light-induced defect density after prolonged illumination. The central idea is to control the growth conditions adjacent to the critical point of phase transition from amorphous to crystalline state, and yet to locate the Fermi level close to the midgap. Our results show that the improved stability and photosensitivity of a-Si:H films prepared by this method can be mainly attributed to the formation of a more robust network structure and reduction in the precursors density of light-induced metastable defects.

A novel pulsed rapid thermal processing (PRTP) method has been used for realizing the solid-phase crystallization of amorphous silicon films prepared by PECVD. The microstructure and surface morphology of the crystallized films are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results indicate that this PRTP is a suitable postcrystallization technique for fabricating large-area polycrystalline silicon films with good structural qualities such as large grain size, small lattice microstain and smooth surface morphology on low-cost substrate.

We propose a novel fabrication method for a room temperature operating single-electron memory using the size and location controlled poly-Si island by lithographic technique and excimer laser annealing.

We have patterned tip shaped excimer laser windows and irradiated laser energy through windows for crystallizing amorphous silicon. As a result of laser energy, the poly-Si grains are growing from patterned window side so that the fine grain and isolated large poly-Si quantum dot are inherently formed by well-known ACSLG regime. The oxidation was then performed by RTP at 950 °C for 30 seconds in order to isolate quantum island and fine poly-Si grains for quantum dot. The peaks of the poly-oxide along the poly-Si grain boundaries were lowered during that oxidation and isolated the poly-Si grains and made oxide barriers.

This paper reports on the growth and characterization of micro-crystalline (Si,Ge) films deposited on glass and polyimide substrates. The films were grown using a hydrogen diluted remote ECR plasma process. The feedstock gases were silane and germane. The entire range of composition from 100% Si to 100% Ge was studied. A low-pressure, low-substrate temperature, and high-power environment was used to change the morphology from amorphous to micro-crystalline. The films deposited at 5 mT pressure are generally micro-crystalline. The film's structure was studied using Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra show clear, sharp crystalline-type Si and Ge peaks. Electronic properties of the films, such as activation energy and absorption constant down to α = 1 cm−1 were also measured. The sub-gap absorption data also show crystalline absorption behavior, with the absorption shifting to lower energies as the Ge content is increased. This absorption data shows that the materials have low defect densities.

Silicon nanowires have been synthesized by using a high-temperature laser ablation method. Transmission electron microscopic investigation shows that the nanowires are crystalline Si, and have diameters ranging from 3 to 43 nm and lengths up to a few hundreds μm. Raman scattering spectrum shows an asymmetric peak at the same position as that of bulk crystalline silicon. The x-ray diffraction revealed an important contribution from surface oxide. This is due to the high surface-to-volume ratio. Visible photoluminescence (PL) was observed in nanowires with sub-5 nm diameter.