Effectiveness of hydrogen dilution for designing amorphous to crystalline Si thin film in inductively coupled plasma assisted magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Careful analysis and investigations of the formation mechanism of the microstructure of the hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) film is presented. A systematic approach is made to understand the transition from amorphous (a-Si:H) to crystalline (nc-Si:H) by incorporating hydrogen dilution using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted magnetron sputtering. Film analysis and plasma diagnostics results reveal that one can design desired microstructure simply by controlling H2 dilution and energy control in the plasmas.