The high-density microwave plasma for high rate deposition of microcrystalline silicon

A high density plasma produced by a microwave discharge (2.45 GHz) utilizing a spokewise antenna is applied for the large-scaled deposition of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) film. The plasma maintains a uniform state within +/- 6% over a diameter of 16 cm. The high density plasma, > 10(11) cm(-3) has been sustained with low electron temperatures of 2-2.5 eV in Ar low pressure plasma of several mTorr without magnetic fields. Highly crystallized and photoconductive mu c-Si:H(Cl) film is produced by adding small addition of SiH4 under steady flow of dichlorosilane (SiH2Cl2), H-2 and Ar plasma at high deposition rate of about 20 Angstrom/s. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.