Study of the Growth Mechanism of Nanocrystalline Si:H Films Prepared by Reactive Hydrogen Plasma Sputtering of Silicon

The growth mechanism of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films prepared by reactive hydrogen plasma sputtering of silicon has been studied by means of X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, and infrared absorption (FT-IR) measurements and SEM observation, and by the diagnosis of the plasma. The nc-Si:H films obtained consist of aggregations of nanocrystalline silicon surrounded by hydrogen atoms. We have found that growth rate and various properties of the nc-Si:H films such as grain size, hydrogen content and morphology are associated both with the incident flux densities of hydrogen ions and the SiH x (x=0–4) species.