纳米Si薄膜的结构及压阻效应

使用ＨＲＥＭ及ＳＴＭ技术检测了纳米Ｓｉ薄膜的微结构，纳米Ｓｉ薄膜由大量的细微Ｓｉ晶粒以及大量的晶粒间界面区组成，这一特殊的结构造成纳米Ｓｉ薄膜具有较大的压阻效应及较高氢含量，本文分析讨论了薄膜微结构对其压阻效应的作用，并认为纳米Ｓｉ薄膜材料将是一种理想的传感器材料。     

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。     

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。     

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.     

Conductivity Properties of Phosphorus-doped Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Film

1-IntroductionInordert0applythehydr0genatednan0crys-tallineSifilm(nc-Si:H)t0futureelectricaldevices,itisnecessarytofurtherimproveitselectricproperties.Accordingt0aSi:Hdopingtechnique,thedepositionofnc-Si:P:Hfilmwasstudiedandprimaryresults0fconductivityarerep0rted.2.ExperimentalAfterexperiments,followingparameterswerechosent0dep0sitnc-Si:P:Hfilms.Thegaseousphosphorus-dopingc0ncentrati0n(PH3/SiH4)is10-`~1;dilutionratio0fsaline(SiH4/H2)is0.1%~1%,substratetemperatureisfrom15O"Cto250"C.Th…     

Preferred growth of nanocrystalline silicon in boron-doped nc-Si:H Films

Preferred growth of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) was first found in boron-doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline (nc-Si:H) films prepared using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. The films were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum and Raman Scattering spectrum. The results showed that the diffraction peaks in XRD spectrum were at 2θ≈47° and the exponent of crystalline plane of nc-Si in the film was (2 2 0). A considerable reason was electric field derived from dc bias made the bonds of Si-Si array according to a certain orient. The size and crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si in boron-doped films were intensively depended on the deposited parameters: diborane (B₂H₆) doping ratio in silane (SiH₄), silane dilution ratio in hydrogen (H₂), rf power density, substrate's temperature and reactive pressure, respectively. But preferred growth of nc-Si in the boron-doped nc-Si:H films cannot be obtained by changing these parameters.     

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...     

Role of argon in hot wire chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films

Structural, optical and electrical properties of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films, deposited from silane (SiH₄) and argon (Ar) gas mixture without hydrogen by hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HW-CVD) method were investigated. Film properties are carefully and systematically studied as a function of argon dilution of silane (R_Ar). We observed that the deposition rate is much higher (4-23 Å/s) compared to conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited nc-Si:H films using Ar dilution of silane (0.5-0.83 Å/s). Characterization of these films with Raman spectroscopy revealed that Ar dilution of silane in HW-CVD endorses the growth of crystallinity and structural order in the nc-Si:H films. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis showed that with increasing Ar dilution, the hydrogen bonding in the films shifts from di-hydrogen (Si-H₂) and (Si-H₂)_n complexes to mono-hydrogen (Si-H) bounded species. The hydrogen content in the films increases with increasing Ar dilution and was found to be < 4 at.% over the entire range of Ar dilutions of silane studied. However, the band gap shows decreasing trend with increase in Ar dilution of silane and it has been attributed to the decrease in the percentage of the amorphous phase in the film. The microstructure parameter was found to be > 0.4 for the films deposited at low Ar dilution of silane and ~ 0.1 or even less for the films deposited at higher Ar dilution, suggesting that there is an enhancement of structural order and homogeneity in the film. From the present study it has been concluded that the Ar dilution of silane is a key process parameter to induce the crystallinity and to improve the structural ordering in the nc-Si:H films deposited by the HW-CVD method.     

Nanocrystalline silicon prepared at high growth rate using helium dilution

Growth and optimization of the nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si: H) films have been studied by varying the electrical power applied to the helium diluted silane plasma in RF glow discharge. Wide optical gap and conducting intrinsic nanocrystalline silicon network of controlled crystalline volume fraction and oriented crystallographic lattice planes have been obtained at a reasonably high growth rate from helium diluted silane plasma, without using hydrogen. Improving crystallinity in the network comprising ∼ 10 nm Si-nanocrystallites and contributing optical gap widening, conductivity ascending and that obtained during simultaneous escalation of the deposition rate, promises significant technological impact.     

Nanocrystalline silicon films with high conductivity and the application for PIN solar cells

Intrinsic nanocrystalline silicon films (nc-Si:H) were prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method. Films’ microstructures and characteristics were studied with Raman spectroscopy and Atom Force Microscope (AFM). The electronic conductivity of nc-Si:H films was found to be 4.9×10⁰Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹, which was one order of magnitude higher thanthe reported 10⁻³-10⁻¹ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹. And PIN solar cells with nc-Si:H film as intrinsic thin-layer (ITO/n⁺-nc-Si:H/i-nc-Si:H/p-c-Si/Ag) were researched. The cell's performances were measured, the open-circuit voltage V_oc was 534.7 mV, short-circuit current I_sc was 49.24 mA (3 cm²) and fill factor FF was 0.4228.     

Effect of hydrogen plasma treatment on the surface morphology, microstructure and electronic transport properties of nc-Si:H

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films, deposited by reactive radio-frequency sputtering with 33% hydrogen dilution in argon at 200 °C, were treated with low-power hydrogen plasma at room temperature at various power densities (0.1-0.5 W/cm²) and durations (10 s-10 min). Plasma treatment reduced the surface root mean square roughness and increased the average grain size. This was attributed to the mass transport of Si atoms on the surface by surface and grain boundary diffusion. Plasma treatment under low power density (0.1 W/cm²) for short duration (10 s) caused a significant enhancement of crystalline volume fraction and electrical conductivity, compared to as-deposited film. While higher power (0.5 W/cm²) hydrogen plasma treatment for longer durations (up to 10 min) caused moderate improvement in crystalline fraction and electrical properties; however, the magnitude of improvement is not significant compared to low-power (0.1 W/cm²)/short-duration (10 s) plasma exposure. The results indicate that low-power hydrogen plasma treatment at room temperature can be an effective tool to improve the structural and electrical properties of nc-Si:H.     

Reactive particle beam based deposition process of nano-crystalline silicon thin film at low temperature for the flexible AM-OLED backplane

A novel deposition process for depositing nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films at low temperature was developed using reactive particle beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (RPB-CVD) for applications to the thin film transistor (TFT) backplane of flexible active matrix-OLEDs with plastic substrates. During the formation of nc-Si thin films by the RPB-CVD process with a silicon reflector electrode at low temperatures or room temperature, energetic particles could induce the formation of a crystalline phase in polymorphous Si thin films without additional substrate heating. The effects of the incident RPB energy controlled by the reflector bias were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The dark conductivity of polymorphous Si thin films increased with increasing reflector bias, whereas the ratio of photo and dark conductivity decreased monotonically. The optical band gap of the Si thin films also could be changed from amorphous to nano-crystalline by controlling the reflector bias. The first results of a primitive nc-Si TFT by RPB-CVD at room temperature demonstrate the technical potential of RPB-based processes as flexible TFT backplanes.     

Structural and optical properties of nc-Si:H thin films deposited by layer-by-layer technique

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) thin films deposited on c-Si and quartz substrates by layer-by-layer (LBL) technique using radio-frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition system. The effects of rf power on the interlayer elemental profiling, structural and optical properties of the films were investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman scattering spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and optical transmission and reflection spectroscopy. The results revealed that the LBL deposition leads to a formation of different ranges of crystallite sizes of nc-Si corresponds 3–6 and 8–26 nm respectively. LBL deposition also demonstrated a capability to increase the crystalline volume fraction of nc-Si up to 65.3 % with the crystallite size in between 5 and 6 nm, at the rf power in between 80 and 100 W. However, the crystalline volume fraction decreased for the rf power above 100 W due to the growth of nc-Si was suppressed by the formation of SiO₂. In addition, the onset of crystallization of the films deposited on c-Si and quartz substrates are different with increase in the rf power. The effects of rf power on the growth of nc-Si, and the hydrogen content, structural disorder, crystallite size of nc-Si and oxygen diffusion into the LBL layer with the change of optical energy gap under the variation of rf power are also discussed.     

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.     

Size modulation of nanocrystalline silicon embedded in amorphous silicon oxide by Cat-CVD

Different issues related to controlling size of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) embedded in hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO_x:H) deposited by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) have been reported. Films were deposited using tantalum (Ta) and tungsten (W) filaments and it is observed that films deposited using tantalum filament resulted in good control on the properties. The parameters which can affect the size of nc-Si domains have been studied which include hydrogen flow rate, catalyst and substrate temperatures. The deposited samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, HRTEM and micro-Raman spectroscopy, for determining the size of the deposited nc-Si. The crystallite formation starts for Ta-catalyst around the temperature of 1700 °C.     

Structural effect on intrinsic stress in nanocrystalline Si:H films

Intrinsic stress in nanocrystalline Si:H films which prepared by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique, was illustrated as a compressive stress by means of Raman scattering and radius of curvature measurement. The Raman signals can be well fitted by a model of strain-calibrated phonon confinement, where the sole effect of phonon confinement and Fano interference on Raman scattering was excluded, respectively. The ion bombardment effect on the origination of intrinsic stress in the PECVD films was discussed. The formation of nc-Si:H was explained by etching model in present experimental parameters’ range. The results infer that the intrinsic compressive stress shows intensive correlation to amorphous Si:H, grain boundaries and hydrogen incorporation in the as-deposited materials.     

Characteristics of hydrogenated silicon thin film deposited by RF-PECVD using He–SiH4 mixture

Nanocrystalline silicon thin films (nc-Si:H) were deposited using He as the dilution gas instead of H₂ and the effect of the operating pressure and rf power on their characteristics was investigated. Especially, operating pressures higher than 4 Torr and a low SiH₄ containing gas mixture, that is, SiH₄(3 sccm)/He(500 sccm) were used to induce high pressure depletion (HPD) conditions. Increasing the operating pressure decreased the deposition rate, however at pressures higher than 6 Torr, crystallized silicon thin films could be obtained at an rf power of 100 W. The deposition of highly crystallized nc-Si:H thin film was related to the HPD conditions, where the damage is decreased through the decrease in the bombardment energy at the high pressure and the crystallization of the deposited silicon thin film is increased through the increased hydrogen content in the plasma caused by the depletion of SiH₄. When the rf power was set at a fixed operating pressure of 6 Torr, HPD conditions were obtained in the rf power range from 80 to 100 W, which was high enough to dissociate SiH₄ fully, but meantime low enough not to damage the surface by ion bombardment. At 6 Torr of operating pressure and 100 W of rf power, the nc-Si:H having the crystallization volume fraction of 67% could be obtained with the deposition rate of 0.28 nm/s.     

Highly reflective nc-Si:H/a-CNx:H multilayer films prepared by r.f. PECVD technique

Multilayer thin films consisting of a-CN_x:H/nc-Si:H layers prepared by radio-frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour (r.f. PECVD) deposition technique were studied. High optical reflectivity at a specific wavelength is one of major concern for its application. By using this technique, a-CN_x:H/nc-Si:H multilayered thin films (3-11 periods) were deposited on substrates of p-type (111) crystal silicon and quartz. These films were characterized using ultra-violet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, field effect scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and AUGER electron spectroscopy (AES). The multilayered films show high reflectivity and wide stop band width at a wavelength of approximately 650 ± 60 nm. The FTIR spectrum of this multilayered structure showed the formation of Si-H and Si-H₂ bonds in the nc-Si:H layer and CC and N-H bonds in a-CN_x:H layer. SEM image and AES reveal distinct formation of a-CN_x:H and nc-Si:H layers in the cross section image with a decrease in interlayer cross contamination with increasing number of periods.     

Characteristics of hydrogenated silicon thin film deposited by RF-PECVD using He-SiH4 mixture

Nanocrystalline silicon thin films (nc-Si:H) were deposited using He as the dilution gas instead of H₂ and the effect of the operating pressure and rf power on their characteristics was investigated. Especially, operating pressures higher than 4 Torr and a low SiH₄ containing gas mixture, that is, SiH₄(3 sccm)/He(500 sccm) were used to induce high pressure depletion (HPD) conditions. Increasing the operating pressure decreased the deposition rate, however at pressures higher than 6 Torr, crystallized silicon thin films could be obtained at an rf power of 100 W. The deposition of highly crystallized nc-Si:H thin film was related to the HPD conditions, where the damage is decreased through the decrease in the bombardment energy at the high pressure and the crystallization of the deposited silicon thin film is increased through the increased hydrogen content in the plasma caused by the depletion of SiH₄. When the rf power was set at a fixed operating pressure of 6 Torr, HPD conditions were obtained in the rf power range from 80 to 100 W, which was high enough to dissociate SiH₄ fully, but meantime low enough not to damage the surface by ion bombardment. At 6 Torr of operating pressure and 100 W of rf power, the nc-Si:H having the crystallization volume fraction of 67% could be obtained with the deposition rate of 0.28 nm/s.