Evolution of structure, morphology, and reactivity of hydrogenated amorphous silicon film surfaces grown by molecular-dynamics simulation
- 30 April 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 78 (18) , 2685-2687
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1367298
Abstract
The relationship between the structure, H coverage, morphology, and reactivity of plasma deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) filmsurfaces was investigated using molecular-dynamics simulations. Surfaces of a-Si:H filmsgrown with SiH 3 as the sole deposition precursor are found to be remarkably smooth due to a valley-filling mechanism where mobile precursors, such as SiH 3 and Si 2 H 6 , diffuse and react with dangling bonds in the valleys on the surface.Surface valleys are reactive due to the increased concentration of dangling bonds and decreased H coverage in these regions. The previously speculated physisorbed configuration, where SiH 3 is weakly bound to the surface through a H atom, is highly unlikely to be the mobile precursor state.Keywords
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