An AFM Study of The Effect of Growth Method and Conditions on The Microstructure of A-Si:H

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to investigate the microstructure at the surface of thick (>4000 Å) hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. The films were prepared by standard glow discharge (GD) as well as hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) techniques. We studied a series of films with substrate temperatures ranging between 200 °C and 400 °C. We also studied the effects of various gas mixtures at fixed growth temperature on the observed microstructure. We found that the average feature grain size in the micro structure varied between 40 nm and 90 nm as the substrate temperature was changed and also as the different gas mixtures were employed during growth. The grain size decreased with increasing substrate temperatures for the films grown from 100 % silane independent of whether the growth method were GD or HWCVD. Gas dilution with argon or hydrogen also resulted in a size reduction, as did PH3 doping at dilute levels. These results rule out the possibilities that the observed features arise from particle production in the reactor chamber itself. The relation of the observed micro structure to the electronic properties of a-Si:H is discussed.