Control of Thin-Film Silicon Microstructure With Low-Energy Particle Bombardment in Reactive Sputtering

83 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001.Hydrogen can be added to the growth chamber to promote a phase change to nanocrystalline silicon at moderate growth temperatures. The growth flux with hydrogen includes energetic (∼100eV) neutral H, produced by the reflection of H2+ions from the target. We determine the kinetic role of these fast H neutrals in the nanocrystalline phase formation by substituting D for H during growth. Crystallization is enhanced with D; we suggest that this higher mass specie enhances a sub-surface restructuring process by enhanced momentum transfer to silicon atoms.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD