Affiliation:
1. Electronics Department, National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Puebla 72840, Mexico
2. Electronics Department, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, Puebla 72590, Mexico
Abstract
In this work, we report on the deposition of microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H) films produced from silane (SiH4), hydrogen (H2), and argon (Ar) mixtures using the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique at 200 °C. Particularly, we studied the effect of RF power on the crystalline fraction (XC) of the deposited films, and we have correlated the XC with their optical, electrical, and structural characteristics. Different types of characterization were performed in the µc-Si:H film series. We used several techniques, such as Raman scattering spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), among others. Our results show that RF power had a strong effect on the XC of the films, and there is an optimal value for producing films with the largest XC.