Mechanical strains in pecvd SiN_x:H films for nanophotonic application

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride films(Si N x:H) are deposited at low temperature by high-frequency plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition(HF PECVD). The main effort is to investigate the roles of plasma frequency and plasma power density in determining the film properties particularly in stress. Information about chemical bonds in the films is obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). The stresses in the Si N x:H film are determined from substrate curvature measurements. It is shown that plasma frequency plays an important role in controlling the stresses in Si N x:H films. For silicon nitride layers grown at plasma frequency 40.68 MHz initial tensile stresses are observed to be in a range of 400 MPa–700 MPa. Measurements of the intrinsic stresses of silicon nitride films show that the stress quantity is sufficient for film applications in strained silicon photonics.     

The mechanism of hydrogen plasma passivation for poly-crystalline silicon thin film

The mechanism of hydrogen plasma passivation for poly-crystalline silicon （poly-Si） thin films is investigated by optical emission spectroscopy （OES） combined with Hall mobility, Raman spectra, absorption coefficient spectra, and so on. It is found that different kinds of hydrogen plasma radicals are responsible for passivating different defects in polySi. The Ha with lower energy is mainly responsible for passivating the solid phase crystallization （SPC） poly-Si whose crystallization precursor is deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition （PECVD）. The H＊ with higher energy may passivate the defects related to teh Ni impurity around the grain boundaries more effectively. In addition, Hβ and H7 with the highest energy are required to passivate intra-grain defects in the poly-Si crystallized by SPC but whose precursor is deposited bv low pressure chemical vapor deposition（LPCVD）     

Evolution of infrared spectra and optical emission spectra in hydrogenated silicon thin films prepared by VHF-PECVD

A series of hydrogenated silicon thin films with varying silane concentrations have been deposited by using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (VHF-PECVD) method.The deposition process and the silicon thin films are studied by using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy,respectively.The results show that when the silane concentration changes from 10% to 1%,the peak frequency of the Si-H stretching mode shifts from 2000 cm-1 to 2100 cm-1,while the peak frequency of the Si-H wagging-rocking mode shifts from 650 cm-1 to 620 cm-1.At the same time the SiH /H α intensity ratio in the plasma decreases gradually.The evolution of the infrared spectra and the optical emission spectra demonstrates a morphological phase transition from amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) to microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H).The structural evolution and the μc-Si:H formation have been analyzed based on the variation of H α and SiH* intensities in the plasma.The role of oxygen impurity during the plasma process and in the silicon films is also discussed in this study.     

Influences of annealing on structural and compositional properties of Al_2O_3 thin films grown on 4H–SiC by atomic layer deposition

Annealing effects on structural and compositional performances of Al_2O_3 thin films on 4H–Si C substrates are studied comprehensively. The Al_2O_3 films are grown by atomic layer deposition through using trimethylaluminum and H_2 O as precursors at 300?C, and annealed at various temperatures in ambient N_2 for 1 min. The Al_2O_3 film transits from amorphous phase to crystalline phase as annealing temperature increases from 750?C to 768?C. The refractive index increases with annealing temperature rising, which indicates that densification occurs during annealing. The densification and grain formation of the film upon annealing are due to crystallization which is relative with second-nearest-neighbor coordination variation according to the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Although the binding energies of Al 2p and O 1s increase together during crystallization, separations between Al 2p and O 1s are identical between as-deposited and annealed sample, which suggests that the nearest-neighbour coordination is similar.     

Surface passivation in n-type silicon and its application in silicon drift detector

Based on the surface passivation of n-type silicon in a silicon drift detector(SDD), we propose a new passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2 passivation stacks. Since the SiO2 formed by the nitric-acid-oxidation-of-silicon(NAOS)method has good compactness and simple process, the first layer film is formed by the NAOS method. The Al2O3 film is also introduced into the passivation stacks owing to exceptional advantages such as good interface characteristic and simple process. In addition, for requirements of thickness and deposition temperature, the third layer of the SiO2 film is deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). The deposition of the SiO2 film by PECVD is a low-temperature process and has a high deposition rate, which causes little damage to the device and makes the SiO2 film very suitable for serving as the third passivation layer. The passivation approach of stacks can saturate dangling bonds at the interface between stacks and the silicon substrate, and provide positive charge to optimize the field passivation of the n-type substrate.The passivation method ultimately achieves a good combination of chemical and field passivations. Experimental results show that with the passivation structure of SiO2/Al2O3/SiO2, the final minority carrier lifetime reaches 5223 μs at injection of 5×10¹⁵ cm^-3. When it is applied to the passivation of SDD, the leakage current is reduced to the order of nA.     

Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon Films by Helicon Wave Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition

Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films have been prepared by a helicon-wave plasma chemical vapour deposition technique on glass-Si substrates. The structural properties and the surface morphology are characterized by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It is proven that the deposited films have the features of high crystalline fraction and large grain size compared with that in the normal plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition regime. The crystalline fraction of the deposited films varying from 0%to 72% can be obtained by adjusting the substrate temperature.     

Influence of Inert Gas Pressure on Growing Rate of Nanocrystalline Silicon Film Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Nanocrystalline silicon film (nc-Si) was prepared by pulsed laser deposition in different inert gas atmospheres such as He, Ne and Ar. The influence of inert gas pressure on growing rate of the film was investigated. The results show that with increasing gas pressure, growing rate first increases and reaches its maximum and then decreases; the gas pressure at the maximum of growing rate is proportional to the reciprocal of atomic mass of gas. The rate maximum is 0.315 A/pulse when He gas pressure is 8.3 Pa. The dynamic process is analysed theoretically by means of resputtering from the film surface and scattering of ablated particles. Ehrthermore, our results are compared with those in the case of Ag target.     

Charge storage characteristics of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon film prepared by rapid thermal annealing

The early stages of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition were characterized by atomic force microscopy. To increase the density of nanocrystals in the nc-Si:H films, the films were annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at different temperatures and then analysed by Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the recrystallization process of the film was optimal at around 1000℃. The effects of different RTA conditions on charge storage were characterized by capacitance--voltage measurement. Experimental results show that nc-Si:H films obtained by RTA have good charge storage characteristics for nonvolatile memory.     

Quantitative measurement of local elasticity of SiOx film by atomic force acoustic microscopy

<正>In this paper the elastic properties of SiO_x film are investigated quantitatively for local fixed point and qualitatively for overall area by atomic force acoustic microscopy(AFAM) in which the sample is vibrated at the ultrasonic frequency while the sample surface is touched and scanned with the tip contacting the sample respectively for fixed point and continuous measurements.The SiO_x films on the silicon wafers are prepared by the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition(PECVD).The local contact stiffness of the tip-SiO_x film is calculated from the contact resonance spectrum measured with the atomic force acoustic microscopy.Using the reference approach,indentation modulus of SiO_x film for fixed point is obtained.The images of cantilever amplitude are also visualized and analysed when the SiO_x surface is excited at a fixed frequency.The results show that the acoustic amplitude images can reflect the elastic properties of the sample.     

Growth characteristics of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films fabricated by very high frequency PECVD at 250 ℃

Amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films were prepared by a very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) technique using hydrogen-diluted SiH4 at 250 C.The dependence of the crystallinity of the film on the hydrogen dilution ratio and the film thickness was investigated.Raman spectra show that the thickness of the initial amorphous incubation layer on silicon oxide gradually decreases with increasing hydrogen dilution ratio.High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that the initial amorphous incubation layer can be completely eliminated at a hydrogen dilution ratio of 98%,which is lower than that needed for the growth of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon using an excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz.More studies on the microstructure evolution of the initial amorphous incubation layer with hydrogen dilution ratios were performed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.It is suggested that the high hydrogen dilution,as well as the higher plasma excitation frequency,plays an important role in the formation of amorphous-layer-free nanocrystalline silicon films.