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Effect of substrate bias on the promotion of nanocrystalline silicon growth from He-diluted SiH4 plasma at low temperature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2012

Debajyoti Das ,
Debnath Raha ,
Wei-Chao Chen ,
Kuei-Hsien Chen ,
Chien-Ting Wu  and
Li-Chyong Chen
Debajyoti Das*
Affiliation:
Nano-Science Group, Energy Research Unit, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
Debnath Raha
Affiliation:
Nano-Science Group, Energy Research Unit, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032, India
Wei-Chao Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Kuei-Hsien Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Chien-Ting Wu
Affiliation:
Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Li-Chyong Chen
Affiliation:
Center for Condensed Matter Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: erdd@iacs.res.in
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Abstract

The effect of direct current (dc) substrate bias on the promotion of nanocrystallization in Si network has been studied, specifically within He-diluted SiH4 plasma in radio frequency (RF)-plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. In view of organizing nanocrystallinity, controlled transmission of energy to the growing surface is needed and that is obtainable from metastable helium (He*) bombardment and, in particular, ionic helium (He+) bombardment under negative substrate bias. The structural morphology has been adequately regulated to a homogeneous network restraining from an exclusive columnar structure that is coherent to low-temperature growth. Notable improvements in the film quality in terms of enhanced crystallinity with low hydrogen content as well as reduced incubation volume, bulk void, and surface roughness have been demonstrated, even at low substrate temperature and low RF power. Use of appropriate dc substrate-bias has been identified as a supplementary parameter efficiently organizing the growth, making it more device-friendly.

Keywords

Plasma-enhanced CVDTransmission electron microscopyNanostructure
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 27 , Issue 9 , 14 May 2012 , pp. 1303 - 1313
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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