Mechanism of hydrogen-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon

Saravanapriyan Sriraman, Sumit Agarwal, Eray S. Aydil () and Dimitrios Maroudas ()
Additional contact information
Saravanapriyan Sriraman: University of California
Sumit Agarwal: University of California
Eray S. Aydil: University of California
Dimitrios Maroudas: University of California

Nature, 2002, vol. 418, issue 6893, 62-65

Abstract: Abstract Hydrogenated amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon films manufactured by plasma deposition techniques are used widely in electronic and optoelectronic devices1,2. The crystalline fraction and grain size of these films determines electronic and optical properties; the nanocrystal nucleation mechanism, which dictates the final film structure, is governed by the interactions between the hydrogen atoms of the plasma and the solid silicon matrix. Fundamental understanding of these interactions is important for optimizing the film structure and properties. Here we report the mechanism of hydrogen-induced crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films during post-deposition treatment with an H2 (or D2) plasma. Using molecular-dynamics simulations3,4 and infrared spectroscopy5, we show that crystallization is mediated by the insertion of H atoms into strained Si–Si bonds as the atoms diffuse through the film. This chemically driven mechanism may be operative in other covalently bonded materials, where the presence of hydrogen leads to disorder-to-order transitions.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature00866 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:418:y:2002:i:6893:d:10.1038_nature00866

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature00866

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().