High-rate deposition of nanocrystalline silicon using the expanding thermal plasma technique

Nanocryst. silicon films have been deposited at very high deposition rates using the expanding thermal plasma technique and their structural properties have been analyzed. The crystallinity and crystallite size and orientation have been detd. for various hydrogen-to-silane diln. ratios and it is shown that films with a cryst. fraction of 60-80% can be deposited at deposition rates within the range 1.5-3.0 nm/s. The hydrogen concn. and at. densities in the film have been investigated by IR spectroscopy and elastic recoil detection/Rutherford backscattering revealing underestimation of the hydrogen content by IR spectroscopy as well as a reduced at. film d. for the nanocryst. silicon films. [on SciFinder (R)]