Stress-induced nucleation of microcrystalline silicon from amorphous phase

We have demonstrated that a high intrinsic stress in the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) phase is essential for microcrystalline silicon (muc-Si:H) nucleation from the amorphous phase at low temperatures (<450degreesC). In plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at high hydrogen dilution, muc-Si:H nucleation was observed only when compressive stress inside a-Si:H exceeds similar to750 MPa, regardless of deposition temperature. As the result of alternating a-Si:H deposition and H-2-plasma treatment, we confirmed that the high compressive stress in a-Si:H originates from H inserted into the a-Si:H network. The high compressive stress in a-Si:H was found to enhance the formation of a SiHn (n = 1-2) complex that has been proposed to be a precursor for pc-Si:H nucleation, Based on the above results, we present a broad overview of stress-induced pc-Si:H nucleation from the amorphous phase.