Investigation of structure and properties of nanocrystalline silicon on various buffer layers

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2005-08, Vol.34 (8), p.1123-1128
• Main Authors: LIN, C. Y, FANG, Y. K, CHEN, S. F, LIN, C. S, CHOU, T. H, HWANG, S. B, HWANG, J. S, LIN, K. I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical vapor deposition; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electrical engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Microelectronics; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Physics; Silicones
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-005-0240-0

A comparative study of deposition nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) on various buffer layers is investigated. The nc-Si films were deposited in a hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system. Through Hall measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), Raman, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, it was found that the columnar grain (CG) size, mobility, and volume fraction of crystalline-deposited nc-Si films increase with an increase of the buffer layers' surface roughness. The nc-Si film deposited on the nc-Si buffer layer possesses the highest Xc (volume fraction of crystalline) of 84.32%, Hall mobility of 45.9 (cm^sup 2^/V s), and CG size of 200-220 nm, and it shows the strongest intensity of the XRD diffraction peak in (111). [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]