Abstract
Highly reducing activity of quasiballistic hot electrons emitted from a nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) diode is verified in terms of liquid-phase thin film deposition. Incident electrons reduce positive ions in salt solutions coated on a target substrate, and then result in deposition of thin metal (Cu) and semiconducting (Si, Ge, and SiGe) films. This mechanism is investigated here throughout the process from electron incidence to thin film deposition. Thermodynamic criterion deduced from classical nucleation theory suggests that the output electron energy of the nc-Si emitter is suitable for promoting preferential reduction of target ions in solutions leading to the nuclei formation. In accordance with mass-transport analyses on generated nanoclusters, the most primary factor of thin film growth is the dose of incident electron. The formulated deposition rate rapidly increases and reaches a stationary value within 0.1 s after electron incidence. The theoretical dependency of the thin film thickness on the electron incidence time is consistent with the experimental results. Specific features of this scheme as an alternative approach for thin film deposition are discussed in comparison with the conventional dry and wet processes.
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