Abstract
For hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film growth governed by SiH 3 plasma radicals, the surface reaction probability β of SiH 3 and the silicon hydride (–SiH x ) composition of the a-Si:H surface have been investigated by time-resolved cavity ringdown and attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, respectively. The surface hydride composition is found to change with substrate temperature from –SiH 3-rich at low temperatures to SiH-rich at higher temperatures. The surface reaction probability β, ranging from 0.20 to over 0.40 and with a mean value of β=0.30±0.03, does not show any indication of temperature dependence and is therefore not affected by the change in surface hydride composition. It is discussed that these observations can be explained by a-Si:H film growth that is governed by H abstraction from the surface by SiH 3 in an Eley-Rideal mechanism followed by the adsorption of SiH 3 at the dangling bond created.
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