Abstract
The fundamental processes of microcrystalline silicon film growth in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with SiH 4 gas diluted by H 2 have been studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with a realistic many-body semiclassical potential developed to describe interatomic interactions in the Si:H system. In this study the fundamental processes have been investigated from the following three viewpoints: (i) Si crystallization processes from SiH 3 radicals; (ii) hydrogen desorption processes; and (iii) stability of the crystallized Si atoms. As a result of MD simulations related to these three points, it was found that when a substrate temperature is ca. 500 K, a SiH 3 radical migrates to a crystalline Si site and is stabilized by bonding two surface Si atoms after releasing one H atom after ca. 200–300 ps, and that surface H desorption occurs as H 2 molecules, SiH 3 radicals and SiH 4 molecules due to atomic H exposure. In addition it was observed that the stabilized Si atom in a crystalline Si site mentioned above cannot be etched by incident atomic H but unrelaxed Si atoms in surface layers can be etched.
Published Version
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