Dependence on gas pressure of $mu;c-Si:H prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

Abstract

We prepared hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films by an RF magnetron sputtering method using an argon/hydrogen mixture gas and investigated the influence of gas pressure on the structural and electrical properties during the deposition. The deposition rate decreased from 0.3 to 0.1 nm/s with increasing gas pressure from 0.67 to 40 Pa.The X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak intensity, the mean crystalline size estimated from the XRD peak width and the crystalline volume fraction estimated from the Raman scattering spectrum showed a maximum at a gas pressure of 8.0 Pa.The photo and dark conductivities increased with increasing crystalline size and showed a maximum at around 8.0 Pa.These findings suggest that gas pressure is very important to control crystallinity and conductivity of μc-Si:H films prepared by magnetron sputtering method.