High rate growth of micro-crystalline silicon by microwave-PECVD

A high rate deposition method for growth of /spl mu/c-Si is presented. The deposition method is based on plasma enhanced CVD, using a linear microwave source. Homogeneous depositions of /spl mu/c-Si over an area with a larger width than 40 cm, and with deposition rates of more than 1 nm/s are achieved, using H/sub 2/ and SiH/sub 4/ as precursor gases. Dilution with Ar helps to obtain a more stable plasma at low process pressures, but does not improve the crystallinity of the layers. /spl mu/c-Si is grown for SiH/sub 4//H/sub 2/ ratios up to 0.2; for larger ratios the layers become amorphous. We varied the deposition temperature between 100/spl deg/C and 300/spl deg/C and were able to grow microcrystalline layers in the entire temperature range with growth rates larger than 0.6 nm/s. FTIR measurements show that the layers incorporate oxygen after deposition; this is due to porosity of the layers.