Al-Induced Crystallization Growth of Si Films by Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition

Polycrystalline Si （poly-Si） films are in situ grown on Al-coated glass substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition at a temperature as low as 350℃. Compared to the traditional annealing crystalliza- tion of amorphous Si/Al-layer structures, no layer exchange is observed and the resultant poly-Si film is much thicker than Al layer. By analysing the depth profiles of the elemental composition, no remains of A1 atoms are detected in Si layer within the limit （〈0.01 at.%） of the used evaluations. It is indicated that the poly-Si material obtained by Al-induced crystallization growth has more potential applications than that prepared by annealing the amorphous Si/Al-layer structures.     

Columnar growth of crystalline silicon films on aluminium-coated glass by inductively coupled plasma CVD at room temperature

Silicon films were grown on aluminium-coated glass by inductively coupled plasma CVD at room temperature using a mixture of SiH₄ and H₂ as the source gas. The microstructure of the films was evaluated using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It was found that the films are composed of columnar grains and their surfaces show a random and uniform distribution of silicon nanocones. Such a microstructure is highly advantageous to the application of the films in solar cells and electron emission devices. Field electron emission measurement of the films demonstrated that the threshold field strength is as low as ～9.8V/μm and the electron emission characteristic is reproducible. In addition, a mechanism is suggested for the columnar growth of crystalline silicon films on aluminium-coated glass at room temperature.