Epitaxial Growth of Silicon Films on SiO2 Patterned Si(100) Substrates by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of selective area nucleation on epitaxial growth of silicon (Si) films, 35 µm thick Si films were deposited by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) under the standard condition on two kinds of SiO2 patterned Si(100) wafers. One was circular patterns, and the other was striated patterns. Then, the structural properties of the as-deposited silicon thin films were investigated by metallurgical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that normal epitaxial growth occurs on the exposed Si(100) regions, while just polycrystalline Si deposition happens on the SiO2 regions. Moreover, for the substrates with circular patterns, the as-deposited Si thin films possess pyramid surface morphology thus excellent light trapping performance being spontaneously formed, and the sizes of the pyramid grains approximately equal to the sum of the diameter and spacing of the round exposed Si regions.