Ion-assisted Sputter Deposition of Microcrystalline Silicon Films with Pulsed-DC Plasma Excitation

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have applied a novel Ion-Assisted Sputter Deposition (IASD) method to deposit microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si) thin films with high deposition rates. An unbalanced magnetron sputter source together with an asymmetrical bipolar pulsed-DC plasma excitation operating in the frequency range 50-250 kHz was used for realizing high ion fluxes to the growing film. µc-Si films of high crystallinity are obtained at T > 400 °C with growth rates of up to 90 nm/min. The crystallinity of the films is characterized by the thickness-independent ratio of the optical thickness n·d determined by FTIR measurements and the atomic area density N·d as given by RBS analysis.