Deposition and Growth Mechanism of Low-Temperature Crystalline Silicon Films on Inexpensive Substrates

Low-temperature crystalline silicon films were deposited on glass and plastic by rising an inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) system. The effects of the deposition parameters on the crystallinity and the preferred crystal orientation of the samples on glass were investigated, and films with adjustable crystallinity and controllable preferred crystal orientation were obtained at a substrate temperature of 350 degrees C. A new approach of aluminum-induced crystallization growth was developed to prepare highly-crystallized Si films at room temperature. A growth mechanism was suggested and demonstrated by the subsequent experimental results. Crystalline Si films with (111)-preferred orientation were deposited on Al-coated polyethylene napthalate at room temperature by optimizing the deposition parameters. The achievement of highly-crystallized Si films could be attributed to the promotion of nucleation in the incubation layer with the assistance of the Al layer.