Highly conducting doped microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) at very low substrate temperature by Cat-CVD

In this paper we report the synthesis of highly conducting doped hydrogenated micro-crystalline silicon films, prepared by Cat-CVD deposition using silane and trimethyl boron (TMB) with hydrogen dilution at substrate temperatures as low as 110 degreesC, having a conductivity of approximately 1 Omega (-1) cm(-1). All the films are microcrystalline and show the characteristic X-ray signature pertaining to the same. The optical transmission data also reveal a high transmission over the spectral range of 450-600 nm. The variation in film characteristics with gas pressure was also studied, and reveals that the pressure is a very important parameter in determining the microcrystallinity of the films. The hydrogen dilution was varied over the range 30-70 sccm. However, no significant effect on the room-temperature conductivity was observed over this range. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.