High Growth Rate of Microcrystalline Silicon Films Prepared by ICP-CVD with Internal Low Inductance Antennas

The plasma parameters in ICP-CVD system with internal low inductance antennas (LIA) were diagnosed by Langmuir probe. The ions density (N _i ) reached 10 ¹¹ -10¹² cm ⁻³, and the electron temperature (T _e ) was below ca. 2 eV, which was slightly decreased with applied power. A p-type hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si:H) film was prepared on glass substrate. After optimization of the processing parameters in flow ratio of SiH ₄ :B ₂ H ₆ :H ₂ , a high quality µc-Si:H film with deposition rate above 1.0 nm/s was achieved in this work.