Effect of substrate bias on the properties of microcrystalline silicon films deposited by hot‐wire chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

AbstractMicrocrystalline silicon thin films were deposited on glass and stainless steel (SS) substrates by hot‐wire chemical vapor deposition with negative substrate bias varying from 0 to −600 V. The structural properties of these films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the crystallinity and compactness of the films deposited on glass first improved by increasing the substrate bias from 0 to −300 V, and then deteriorated by further elevating the substrate bias from −300 to −600 V. However, the crystallinity of films deposited on SS with negative substrate bias deteriorated on increasing the applied substrate bias. Moreover, temperature‐dependent conductivity measurements were performed to investigate the electrical properties of the boron‐doped films on glass. The conductivity activation energy of the boron‐doped films deposited on glass first decreased from 0.049 to 0.039 eV by varying the substrate bias from 0 to −300 V, and then increased to 0.05 eV on increasing the substrate bias to −600 V.