Controlled Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon within Amorphous Silicon Carbide Thin Films

Controlled formation of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) within hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) thin films has been demonstrated by a rf (13.56 MHz) plasma chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) method at a low deposition temperature of 200 degrees C by regulating the deposition pressure (Pr) between 26.7 Pa and 133.3 Pa. Evolution of the size and the crystalline silicon volume fraction within the a-SiC:H matrix has been studied by XRD, Raman and HRTEM. The study reveals that at Pr of 26.7 Pa there are mostly isolated grains of nc-Si within the a-SiC:H matrix with average size of 4.5 nm. With increase of Pr the isolated nc-Si grains coalesce more and more giving rise to larger size connected nc-Si islands which appear as microcrystalline silicon in the Raman spectra. As a result net isolated nc-Si volume fraction decreases while the total crystalline silicon volume fraction increases.