Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films

9360138霍林斯沃斯最近观察到纳米硅微晶的高效可见光发光，在半导体界引起了极大的兴奋。硅禁带附近的发光一般归因于尺寸小于5 nm的微晶中载流子的量子限制。这项研究项目将考察等离子体增强化学气相沉积作为一种制备具有可见光发光的纳米硅薄膜的方法。等离子体增强化学气相沉积生长的重掺杂微晶薄膜用于非晶硅光伏器件的研究已有多年。微晶膜由典型的晶粒度小于10 nm的晶体组成，周围包裹着非晶硅基质。研究表明，非晶态基质的去除使纳米硅具有可见的发光性能。非掺杂、p和n型微晶薄膜将通过等离子体增强化学气相沉积和随后的非晶基蚀刻来生长，从而离开纳米晶体研究，最终目标是在第二阶段在用于大面积平板显示器应用的玻璃衬底上生产发光二极管。

9360138 Hollingsworth The recent observation of efficient visible luminescence form nanometer sized silicon crystallites has generated a great deal of excitement in the semiconductor community. The emission of light about the bandgap of silicon is generally attributed to quantum confinement of carriers in crystallites with dimensions less than 5nm. This research project will examine plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition as a method of producing nanocrystalline silicon thin films exhibiting visible luminescence. Heavily doped micro crystalline films grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition have been studied for many years for use in amorphous silicon photovoltaics. The micro crystalline films consist of crystals with typical grain sizes less than 10nm surrounded by an amorphous silicon matrix. It has been shown that removal of the amorphous matrix leaves nanocrystalline silicon with visible luminescence. Undoped, p, and n type micro crystalline films will be grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition with subsequent etching of the amorphous matrix to leave nanocrystalline research, with the ultimate goal in Phase II of producing light emitting diodes on glass substrated for large area flat panel display applications.