Effect of substrate temperature and pressure on properties of microcrystalline silicon films

In this paper intrinsic microcrystalline silicon films have been prepared by very highfrequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (VHF-PECVD) withdifferent substrate temperature and pressure. The film properties wereinvestigated by using Raman spectra, x-ray diffraction, scanningelectron microscope (SEM), and opticaltransmittance measurements, as well as dark conductivity. Raman resultsindicate that increase of substrate temperature improves the microcrystallinityof the film. The crystallinity is improved when the pressure increases from50Pa to 80Pa and the structure transits from microcrystalline to amorphoussilicon for pressure higher than 80Pa. SEM reveals the effect of substratetemperature and pressure on surface morphology.