Comparative Study of Solid-Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Deposited by Hot-wire CVD, Plasma-Enhanced CVD, and Electron-Beam Evaporation

Abstract

AbstractSolid-phase crystallization (SPC) rates are compared in amorphous silicon films prepared by three different methods: hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and electron-beam physical vapor deposition (e-beam). Random SPC proceeds approximately 5 and 13 times slower in PECVD and e-beam films, respectively, as compared to HWCVD films. Doping accelerates random SPC in e-beam films but has little effect on the SPC rate of HWCVD films. In contrast, the crystalline growth front in solid-phase epitaxy experiments propagates at similar speed in HWCVD, PECVD, and e-beam amorphous Si films. This strongly suggests that the observed large differences in random SPC rates originate from different nucleation rates in these materials while the grain growth rates are relatively similar. The larger grain sizes observed for films that exhibit slower random SPC support this suggestion.