High Rate Growth of Microcrystalline Silicon by VHF-GD at High Pressure

Microcrystalline silicon growth using very high frequency-glow discharge PECVD has been studied under conditions of high pressure and high VHF-power conditions. Hereby, the influence of the total gas flow and the silane concentration on the deposition rate has been investigated. Deposition rates of over 25 Å/s have been achieved at relatively low total gas flows of 100 sccm. These high-rate films show device-grade quality with respect to subband gap absorption and microcrystalline structure. Dark conductivity measurements reveal midgap character and transmission electron microscopy investigations confirm a highly crystalline microstructure from the bottom to the top of the μc-Si:H films. These high-rate μc-Si:H layers are very interesting candidates for solar cell and other devices. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.