Control of crystallinity of microcrystalline silicon film grown on insulating glass substrates

The amorphous incubation layer commonly found in microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) grown on insulating glass substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition has been successfully eliminated simply by dilution of the SiH4, to a SiH4/H-2 flow ratio < 1/99. Using an amorphous layer free mu c-Si:H as a seed an epitaxial-like growth of mu c-Si:H was obtained. It is shown that, with the seeded growth scheme, one can grow amorphous layer free thin mu c-Si:H films and control the crystallinity of the films with relative ease. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.