Influences of deposition and crystallization kinetics on the properties of silicon films deposited by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition from silane and disilane

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 518; no. 23; pp. 6897 - 6903
• Main Authors: Temple-Boyer, Pierre, Rousset, B., Scheid, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 30.09.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Chemical vapor deposition; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystallization; Deposition; Engineering Sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Low-pressure chemical vapour deposition; Materials science; Mechanical and acoustical properties; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Micro and nanotechnologies; Microelectronics; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of specific thin films; Physical properties of thin films, nonelectronic; Physics; Refractive index; Refractivity; Residual stress; Silanes; Silicon; Silicon films; Structure and morphology; thickness; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Thin film structure and morphology; Thin films; Volume fraction; Thin films; Low-pressure chemical vapour deposition; Silicon; Refractive index; Residual stress; Crystallization; Silanes; Temperature dependence; Polycrystals; Deposition rate; Residual stresses; CVD; Temperature effects; Optical properties; Low pressure; Polysilicon; Semiempirical method; Microstructure; low-pressure chemical vapour deposition; thin films; silicon 2
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2010.07.037

The paper deals with the properties of silicon films obtained by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD). Two gaseous sources characterized by different deposition temperatures, i.e. disilane Si 2H 6 (420–520 °C) and silane SiH 4 (520–750 °C), was studied in order to understand the influences of deposition and crystallization kinetics on silicon film properties. Thus, the deposition of amorphous, semi-crystallized and polycrystalline silicon films was related to “volume random” and “surface columnar” crystallization phenomena, highlighting a linear relationship between the refractive index and the polysilicon volume fraction and, showing complex residual stress dependency with process conditions. Finally, by introducing the ratio V d/V c between the deposition and crystallization rates as a major parameter, different deposition behaviours and related semi-empirical relationships were defined in order to characterize fully the various properties of LPCVD silicon films (microstructure, polysilicon volume fraction, refractive index and residual stress) according to the chosen gaseous source, silane or disilane.