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Nucleation Mechanism of Microcrystalline Silicon Studied by Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry and Infrared Spectroscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

Hiroyuki Fujiwara ,
Yasutake Toyoshima ,
Michio Kondo  and
Akihisa Matsuda
Hiroyuki Fujiwara
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
Yasutake Toyoshima
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
Michio Kondo
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
Akihisa Matsuda
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8568, Japan
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Abstract

We have characterized a-Si:H initial layers for μc-Si:H nucleation by real time spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy (ATR) to investigate the μc-Si:H formation mechanism. By performing Ar plasma treatment of a-Si:H layers, we confirmed a presence of a 2 monolayer thick sub-surface in a-Si:H layers. In the a-Si:H sub-surface that leads to the μc-Si:H nucleation, an important peak at ∼1937 cm−1 assigned to the SiHn complex was found in the ATR spectra. From H2 plasma treatment experiments, we proposed that this SiHn complex is formed by H insertion into strained Si-Si bonds. The SiHn complex formed in the a-Si:H sub-surface showed a clear relationship with the μc-Si:H nucleation. From these results, we conclude that the μc-Si:H nucleation occurs by the formation of the chemically active and flexible SiHn complexes in the 2 monolayer thick a-Si:H sub-surface.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 609: Symposium A – Amorphous & Heterogeneous Silicon Thin Films – 2000 , 2000 , A2.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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