Inductively coupled plasma-assisted RF magnetron sputtering deposition of boron-doped microcrystalline Si films

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds 2010-06, Vol.499 (2), p.166-170
• Main Authors: Huang, S.Y., Cheng, Q.J., Xu, S., Ostrikov, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boron; Boron doping; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition; Deposition by sputtering; Electric power generation; Electrical properties; Electrical properties of specific thin films; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Elemental semiconductors; Exact sciences and technology; Inductively coupled plasmas; Magnetron sputtering; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Microcrystalline silicon; Physics; Radio frequencies; Silicon films; Solar cells; Thin films
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2010.01.078

An innovative custom-designed inductively coupled plasma-assisted RF magnetron sputtering deposition system has been developed to synthesize B-doped microcrystalline silicon thin films using a pure boron sputtering target in a reactive silane and argon gas mixture. Films were deposited using different boron target powers ranging from 0 to 350 W at a substrate temperature of 250 °C. The effect of the boron target power on the structural and electrical properties of the synthesized films was extensively investigated using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Hall-effect system. It is shown that, with an initial increase of the boron target power from 0 to 300 W, the structural and electrical properties of the B-doped microcrystalline films are improved. However, when the target power is increased too much (e.g. to 350 W), these properties become slightly worse. The variation of the structural and electrical properties of the synthesized B-doped microcrystalline thin films is related to the incorporation of boron atoms during the crystallization and doping of silicon in the inductively coupled plasma-based process. This work is particularly relevant to the microcrystalline silicon-based p– i– n junction solar cells.