Effects of neutral particle beam on nano-crystalline silicon thin films, with application to thin film transistor backplane for flexible active matrix organic light emitting diodes

A novel deposition process for nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films was developed using neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBaCVD) technology for the application of the thin film transistor (TFT) backplane of flexible active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED). During the formation of a nc-Si thin film, the energetic particles enhance nano-sized crystalline rather microcrystalline Si in thin films. Neutral Particle Beam (NPB) affects the crystallinity in two ways: (1) NPB energy enhances nano-crystallinity through kinetic energy transfer & chemical annealing, and (2) heavier NPB (such as Ar) induces damage & amorphization through energetic particle impinging. Nc-Si thin film properties effectively can be changed by the reflector bias. As increase of NPB energy limits growing the crystalline, the performance of TFT supports this NPB behavior. The results of nc-Si TFT by NBaCVD demonstrate the technical potentials of neutral beam based processes for achieving high stability and reduced leakage in TFT backplanes for AMOLEDs.     

Effects of doping concentration on the microstructural and optoelectrical properties of boron doped amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon films

Boron doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films were prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique at various flow rate of diborane (F_B). As-deposited samples were thermally annealed at the temperature of 800 °C to obtain the doped nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) films. The effect of boron concentration on the microstructural, optical and electrical properties of the films was investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements demonstrated the presence of the substitutional boron in the doped films. It was found that thermal annealing can efficiently activate the dopants in films accompanying with formation of nc-Si grains. Based on the temperature-dependent conductivity measurements, it was shown that the dark conductivity of doped amorphous samples increases monotonously with the increase of doping content. While the dark conductivity of doped nc-Si films is not only determined by the concentration of dopant but also the crystallinity of the films. As increasing the flow rate of diborane, the crystallinity of doped nc-Si films decreases, which causes the decrease of dark conductivity. Finally, the high dark conductivity of 178.68 S cm⁻¹ of the B-doped nc-Si thin films can be obtained.     

Influence of bias voltage on the optical and structural properties of nc-Si:H films grown by layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition technique

The effects of applying a positive bias of 25 to 100 V on the optical, structural and photoluminescence (PL) properties of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films produced by layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition technique has been studied. Optical characterization of the films has been obtained from UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy measurements. Structural characterization has been performed using X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). PL spectroscopy technique has been used to investigate the PL properties of the films. In general, the films formed shows a mixed phase of silicon (Si) nanocrystallites embedded within an amorphous phase of the Si matrix. The crystalline volume fraction and grain size of the Si nanocrystallites have been shown to be strongly dependent on the applied bias voltage. High applied bias voltage enhances the growth rate of the films but reduces the refractive index and the optical energy gap of the films. Higher crystalline volume fraction of the films prepared at low bias voltages exhibits room temperature PL at around 1.8 eV (700 nm).     

Properties of amorphous silicon thin films synthesized by reactive particle beam assisted chemical vapor deposition

Amorphous silicon thin films were formed by chemical vapor deposition of reactive particle beam assisted inductively coupled plasma type with various reflector bias voltages. During the deposition, the substrate was heated at 150 °C. The effects of reflector bias voltage on the physical and chemical properties of the films were systematically studied. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy results showed that the deposited films were amorphous and the films under higher reflector voltage had higher internal energy to be easily crystallized. The chemical state of amorphous silicon films was revealed as metallic bonding of Si atoms by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. An increase in reflector voltage induced an increase of surface morphology of films and optical bandgap and a decrease of photoconductivity.     

Highly conductive p-type nanocrystalline silicon films deposited by RF-PECVD using silane and trimethylboron mixtures at high pressure

In this paper we present a study of boron-doped nc-Si:H films prepared by PECVD at high deposition pressure (≥4 mbar), high plasma power and low substrate temperature (≤200 °C) using trimethylboron (TMB) as a dopant gas. The influence of deposition parameters on electrical, structural and optical properties is investigated. We determine the deposition conditions that lead to the formation of p-type nanocrystalline silicon thin films with very high crystallinity, high value of dark conductivity (>7 (Ω cm)⁻¹) and high optical band gap (≥1.7 eV). Modeling of ellipsometry spectra reveals that the film growth mechanism should proceed through a sub-surface layer mechanism that leads to silicon crystallization.The obtained films are very good candidates for application in amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon solar cells as a p-type window layer.     

双纳米硅p层优化非晶硅太阳能电池

采用等离子体增强化学气相沉积(Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition,PECVD)技术在高功率密度、高反应气压和低衬底温度下制备出不同氢稀释比RH的硅薄膜.高分辨透射电镜(High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy,HRT...     

Optimization of n nc-Si:H and a-SiNx:H layers for their application in nc-Si:H TFT

The n-type doped silicon thin films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique at high and low H₂ dilutions. High H₂ dilution resulted in n⁺ nanocrystalline silicon films (n⁺ nc-Si:H) with the lower resistivity (ρ ∼0.7 Ω cm) compared to that of doped amorphous silicon films (∼900 Ω cm) grown at low H₂ dilution. The change of the lateral ρ of n⁺ nc-Si:H films was measured by reducing the film thickness via gradual reactive ion etching. The ρ values rise below a critical film thickness, indicating the presence of the disordered and less conductive incubation layer. The 45 nm thick n⁺ nc-Si:H films were deposited in the nc-Si:H thin film transistor (TFT) at different RF powers, and the optimum RF power for the lowest resistivity (∼92 Ω cm) and incubation layer was determined. On the other hand, several deposition parameters of PECVD grown amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN_x:H) thin films were changed to optimize low leakage current through the TFT gate dielectric. Increase in NH₃/SiH₄ gas flow ratio was found to improve the insulating property and to change the optical/structural characteristics of a-SiN_x:H film. Having lowest leakage currents, two a-SiN_x:H films with NH₃/SiH₄ ratios of ∼19 and ∼28 were used as a gate dielectric in nc-Si:H TFTs. The TFT deposited with the NH₃/SiH₄∼19 ratio showed higher device performance than the TFT containing a-SiN_x:H with the NH₃/SiH₄∼28 ratio. This was correlated with the N−H/Si−H bond concentration ratio optimized for the TFT application.     

Influence of argon neutral beam energy on the structural properties of amorphous carbon thin films grown by neutral particle beam assisted sputtering

The effects of argon neutral beam (NB) energy on amorphous carbon (a-C) films were investigated, the a-C films were deposited by a neutral particle beam assisted sputtering (NBAS) system. The energy of the neutral particle beam can be directly controlled by a reflector bias voltage as a unique operating parameter of the system. The results from the analysis by Raman spectra, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), UV-visible spectroscopy and electrical conductivity indicate the properties of the amorphous carbon films can be manipulated by simply adjusting the NB energy (or reflector bias voltage) without changing any other process parameters. By increasing the reflector bias voltage, the amount of cross-linked sp² clusters as well as the sp³ bonding in the a-C film coating from the NBAS system can be increased effectively and the composition of carbon thin films can be changed from a nano-crystalline graphite phase to an amorphous carbon phase. In addition, the deposition rate increases with reflector bias voltage due to additional sputtering at the carbon reflector without any variation of physical and electrical properties of the a-C film.     

SiCl4/H2为气源低温沉积多晶硅薄膜低温电学特性的研究

对用SiCl4/H2为源气体、采用等离子体增强化学气相沉积(PECVD)技术制备的多晶硅薄膜进行了低温电学特性的研究.实验结果表明,多晶硅薄膜的暗电导强烈依赖于温度,在300～90K的温度范围内呈现不同的导电特性.对多晶硅薄膜,其导电特性还与晶化率有关,晶化率越大电导率越大.测量数据表明,低晶化率薄膜电输运主要由电子热发射跃过势垒所贡献,但对于高晶化率的薄膜要同时考虑电子隧穿对电导的影响.     

Capacitance analyses of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon based thin film transistor

The capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements within 10⁶-10^− 2 Hz frequency range were performed on the hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) bottom-gate thin film transistor (TFT) and metal-insulator-amorphous silicon (MIAS) structure, mechanically isolated from the same TFT. It was found that the conducting thin layer in nc-Si:H film expands the effective capacitor area beyond the electrode in the TFT structure, which complicates its C-V curves. Considering the TFT capacitance-frequency (C-F) curves, the equivalent circuit of the TFT structure was proposed and mechanism for this area expansion was discussed. On the other hand, the MIAS C-F curves were fitted by the equivalent circuit models to deduce its electrical properties. nc-Si:H neutral bulk effect was revealed by the dependence of the MIAS capacitance on frequency within 10⁶-10³ Hz at both accumulation and depletion regimes. The inversion in MIAS was detected at 10²-10^− 2 Hz for relatively low negative gate bias without any external activation source. The presence of the ac hopping conductivity in the nc-Si:H film was inferred from the fitting. In addition, the density of the interface traps and its energy distribution were determined.     

硼掺杂对热丝CVD法制备纳米晶硅薄膜微结构与光电性能的影响

采用热丝化学气相沉积法制备了不同B2H6掺杂比例(B2H6/SiH4为2%~15%)的p型纳米晶硅薄膜,通过探索B2H6掺杂比例、晶化率、光学带隙和电学性能(电导率、载流子浓度、霍尔迁移率)之间的关系以及薄膜掺杂机理来研究B2H6掺杂比例对薄膜微结构和光电性能的影响。在掺杂比例为11%时成功获得了电导率为32 S/cm的高电导率硼掺杂nc-Si∶H薄膜。     

纳米硅薄膜制备技术进展

本文综述了纳米硅薄膜制备新技术的进展。着重介绍了高氢稀释硅烷蚀刻法，微波氢基团增强化学气相沉积，逐层法和高频数值等离子体化学气相沉积技术制备纳米硅薄膜的沉积过程和生长机制．本文指出氢基团为各项新技术发展的关键并将在今后纳米硅薄膜制备技术发展中起重要作用。     

Hot wire configuration for depositing device grade nano-crystalline silicon at high deposition rate

The University of Barcelona is developing a pilot-scale hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HW-CVD) set up for the deposition of nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) on 10 cm × 10 cm glass substrate at high deposition rate. The system manages 12 thin wires of 0.15-0.2 mm diameter in a very dense configuration. This permits depositing very uniform films, with inhomogeneities lower than 2.5%, at high deposition rate (1.5-3 nm/s), and maintaining the substrate temperature relatively low (250 °C). The wire configuration design, based on radicals’ diffusion simulation, is exposed and the predicted homogeneity is validated with optical transmission scanning measurements of the deposited samples. Different deposition series were carried out by varying the substrate temperature, the silane to hydrogen dilution and the deposition pressure. By means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the evolution in time of the nc-Si:H vibrational modes was monitored. Particular importance has been given to the study of the material stability against post-deposition oxidation.     

High performance multilayered nano-crystalline silicon/silicon-oxide light-emitting diodes on glass substrates

A low-temperature hydrogenation-assisted sequential deposition and crystallization technique is reported for the preparation of nano-scale silicon quantum dots suitable for light-emitting applications. Radio-frequency plasma-enhanced deposition was used to realize multiple layers of nano-crystalline silicon while reactive ion etching was employed to create nano-scale features. The physical characteristics of the films prepared using different plasma conditions were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, room temperature photoluminescence and infrared spectroscopy. The formation of multilayered structures improved the photon-emission properties as observed by photoluminescence and a thin layer of silicon oxy-nitride was then used for electrical isolation between adjacent silicon layers. The preparation of light-emitting diodes directly on glass substrates has been demonstrated and the electroluminescence spectrum has been measured.     

氢化纳米硅薄膜光电性质及其应用研究进展

氢化纳米硅（nc-Si:H）薄膜具有室温下的高电导率、电致发光及光致发光等独特的性能，可应用于超大规模集成电路中，因而引起人们广泛的研究兴趣。简单地综述了国内外有关nc-Si:H薄膜的制备方法、导电机理、发光机理及其应用于量子功能器件等方面的研究工作。     

Photoluminescence from intermediate phase silicon structure and nanocrystalline silicon in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition grown Si/SiO(2) multilayers

Amorphous Si/SiO(2) multilayers (MLs) on silicon wafers were fabricated in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system via cycles of silicon deposition and plasma oxidation. The structural and optical properties of the MLs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering and room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Intermediate phase silicon structure (IPSS), which is intermediate in order between the continuous random network amorphous phase and the well ordered crystalline phase, was found in the a-Si sublayers around the crystallization onset temperature. Red-near infrared wavelength region PL from recombination via structural defects inside the IPSS and Si = O at the surface of both nanocrystal Si (nc-Si) and IPSS was observed. In the samples with IPSS and nc-Si coexisting, the IPSS was found to be about five times more efficient as regards PL than nc-Si.     

Hydrogenation of nanocrystalline Si thin film transistors employing inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition for flexible electronics

We have investigated the plasma hydrogenation effect on a nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin film transistor (TFT) fabricated by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) at 150 °C. The top-gate nc-Si TFT showed a mobility of ∼ 6 cm²/Vs and V_th of 8 V. The hydrogenation employing ICP-CVD was performed at 100 °C for 4 min in order to improve the characteristics of nc-Si TFT. The mobility was increased from ∼ 6 cm²/Vs to 11 cm²/Vs. The V_th of the nc-Si TFTs was decreased to about 6.8 V from 8.1 V. The on-current at the saturation regime also increased by 66% while the off current was increased slightly. The improvement of mobility, threshold voltage and on-current can be attributed to the hydrogen passivation of the Si dangling bonds in the nc-Si film. The experimental results showed that the 100 °C ICP-CVD hydrogenation is effective to improve the 150 °C nc-Si TFT.     

The deposition of amorphous carbon thin films for hard mask applications by reactive particle beam assisted sputtering process

In this work, amorphous carbon thin films for hard mask applications were deposited by a reactive particle beam (RPB) assisted sputtering system at room temperature. The deposition characteristics of the films were investigated as functions of operating parameters such as reflector bias voltage and RF plasma power. By spectroscopic ellipsometry, the decrease in the refractive index of films at the wavelengths of 633 and 248 nm was observed with the increasing plasma power. In Raman spectra, the positions of G line shifted to higher wavenumbers with increasing plasma power. When the reflector bias voltage increases, the deposition rate was increased but the positions of G line remained nearly unchanged.     

PECVD法生长的nc－Si：H膜电导率的研究

使用ＰＥＣＶＤ方法生长了ｎｃ－Ｓｉ：Ｈ膜，Ｘ射线衍射、Ｒａｍａｎ光谱和电镜观测表明样品具备了纳米结构特征。测量了样品在７７Ｋ～４００Ｋ温度范围的电导率，并使用二相随机分布有效介质理论，计算了ｎｃ－Ｓｉ：Ｈ膜中晶粒部分和晶界部分的电导率。对计算结果进行了理论分析，初步探讨了ｎｃ－Ｓｉ结构对其导电性能的影响，提出ｎｃ－Ｓｉ：Ｈ的高电导率来源于膜中纳米晶粒的小尺寸效应。     

纳米硅薄膜的镜反射红外光谱研究

研究探讨了镜反射红外光谱在纳米材料方面的应用。通过等离子化学气相沉积法(PECVD),制备本征和掺磷的纳米硅薄膜(nc-Si：H),利用镜反射红外光谱研究了本征和掺磷的纳米硅薄膜的光谱特征。通过实验,发现这两种薄膜中都存在多氢键合方式,PECVD工艺参数如衬底温度、直流电压和掺杂浓度对薄膜结构具有一定的影响。