Effect of Deposition Temperature on the Crystallization Mechanism of Amorphous Silicon Films on Glass

Abstract

The crystallization mechanism of amorphous Si films deposited on glass substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method was investigated. The deposition temperature varied from 200 to 400° C and the films were crystallized at 600° C in nitrogen. As the deposition temperature increased the nucleation rate was increased, but the nucleation activation energy was independent of the deposition temperature with a value of 3.8 eV. The results suggest that the pre-exponential factor in Arrhenius equation is dependent on the deposition temperature. The dependence of nucleation rate on deposition temperature was mainly due to the increased structural disorder during hydrogen evolution. The grain size was increased by introducing a double-layer structure of amorphous Si film, where the nucleation occurred other than at the Si/SiO2 interface.