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Fine-tuning of the interface in high-quality epitaxial silicon films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 200 °C

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2013

Mario Moreno ,
Gilles Patriarche  and
Pere Roca i Cabarrocas
Mario Moreno*
Affiliation:
National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Electronics Department, INAOE, 72840 Puebla, Mexico
Gilles Patriarche
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Photonique et de NanostructuresLPN-CNRS, Route de Nozay, 91460 Marcoussis, France
Pere Roca i Cabarrocas*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, LPICM, 91128 Palaiseau, France
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: mmoreno@inaoep.mx
b)e-mail: pere.roca@polytechnique.edu
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Abstract

High-quality epitaxial silicon thin films have been deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at 200 °C in a standard radiofrequency (RF) PECVD reactor. We optimized a silicon tetrafluoride (SiF4) plasma to clean the surface of <100> crystalline silicon wafers and without breaking vacuum, an epitaxial silicon film was grown from SiF4, hydrogen (H2), and argon (Ar) gas mixtures. We demonstrate that the H2/SiF4 flow rate ratio is a key parameter to grow high-quality epitaxial silicon films. Moreover, by changing this ratio, we can fine-tune the composition of the interface between the crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer and the epitaxial film. In this way, at low values of the H2/SiF4 flow rate ratio, an abrupt interface is achieved. On the contrary, by increasing this ratio we can obtain a porous and fragile interface layer, composed of hydrogen-rich microcavities, which allows the transfer of the epitaxial film to foreign substrates.

Keywords

epitaxyplasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD)Si
Type
Reviews
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 13: FOCUS ISSUE: Frontiers in Thin-Film Epitaxy and Nanostructured Materials , 14 July 2013 , pp. 1626 - 1632
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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