Generation of Charged Clusters and their Deposition in Polycrystalline Silicon Hot-Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition

열선 CVD 증착 다결정 실리콘에서 전하를 띈 클러스터의 생성 및 증착

Polycrystalline silicon films were deposited using hot wire CVD (HWCVD). The deposition of silicon thin films was approached by the theory of charged clusters (TCC). The TCC states that thin films grow by self-assembly of charged clusters or nanoparticles that have nucleated in the gas phase during the normal thin film process. Negatively charged clusters of a few nanometer in size were captured on a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grid and observed by TEM. The negatively charged clusters are believed to have been generated by ion-induced nucleation on negative ions, which are produced by negative surface ionization on a tungsten hot wire. The electric current on the substrate carried by the negatively charged clusters during deposition was measured to be approximately $-2{\mu}A/cm^2$. Silicon thin films were deposited at different $SiH_4$ and $H_2$ gas mixtures and filament temperatures. The crystalline volume fraction, grain size and the growth rate of the films were measured by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The deposit ion behavior of the si1icon thin films was related to properties of the charged clusters, which were in turn controlled by the process conditions. In order to verify the effect of the charged clusters on the growth behavior, three different electric biases of -200 V, 0 V and +25 V were applied to the substrate during the process, The deposition rate at an applied bias of +25 V was greater than that at 0 V and -200 V, which means that the si1icon film deposition was the result of the deposit ion of charged clusters generated in the gas phase. The working pressures had a large effect on the growth rate dependency on the bias appled to the substrate, which indicates that pressure affects the charging ratio of neutral to negatively charged clusters. These results suggest that polycrystalline silicon thin films with high crystalline volume fraction and large grain size can be produced by control1ing the behavior of the charged clusters generated in the gas phase of a normal HWCVD reactor.