Growth Mechanism of Microcrystalline Silicon Prepared by Alternating Deposition of Amorphous Silicon and Hydrogen Radical Annealing

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Abstract
The growth mechanism of microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si) prepared by hydrogen radical annealing has been investigated. Alternating deposition of amorphous silicon (a-Si) (thickness of about 4 nm) and sufficient hydrogen radical annealing, results in µc-Si as large as 50 nm. The size of µc-Si can be controlled to less than 10 nm by inserting a-Si layers between crystallized layers to block the diffusion of hydrogen radicals. These results imply that the growth of µc-Si by this method is caused by hydrogen radicals diffused through a-Si, and that µc-Si grows epitaxially from µc-Si formed in the previous cycle.