INFLUENCE OF CURRENT DENSITY ON THE STRUCTURE OF AMORPHOUS SILICON SUBOXIDE THIN FILMS UNDER ELECTRON-BEAM ANNEALING

• Published in: Journal of applied mechanics and technical physics 2023-10, Vol.64 (5), p.778-783
• Main Authors: Baranov, E. A., Nepomnyashchikh, V. A., Konstantinov, V. O., Shchukin, V. G., Merkulova, I. E., Zamchiy, A. O., Lunev, N. A., Volodin, V. A., Shapovalova, A. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amorphous silicon; Amorphous structure; Annealing; Applications of Mathematics; Classical and Continuum Physics; Classical Mechanics; Crystallites; Current density; Degree of crystallinity; Density distribution; Electron beams; Fluid- and Aerodynamics; Liquid phases; Mathematical Modeling and Industrial Mathematics; Mechanical Engineering; Normal distribution; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Thin films; Vacuum chambers
• ISSN: 0021-8944; 1573-8620
• DOI: 10.1134/S0021894423050061

Electron-beam annealing of an amorphous silicon suboxide thin film with a stoichiometric coefficient of 0.5 was carried out in a vacuum chamber. The exposure time was 10 min at an accelerating electron-beam voltage of 1000 V and a current strength of 75 mA. Using probe measurements and calculations, the current density distribution over the electron-beam cross section was obtained assuming a normal distribution. The current density on the beam axis was 0.8 mA/mm 2 . The electron-beam annealing of the amorphous silicon suboxide thin film led to the formation of crystalline silicon nanoparticles with a size of   nm. The crystallite sizes did not depend on the electron-beam current density, in contrast to the degree of crystallinity, which decreased from 40% on the beam axis to zero (amorphous structure) on the periphery. It is suggested that during the formation of nanocrystalline silicon, a liquid phase is formed.