Dow Corning Corporation

Ecole Polytechnique

Thien Hai Dao

Pere Roca I Cabarrocas

Patrick Leempoel

Pierre Descamps

Pavel Bulkin

Dmitri Daineka

Thibault Kervyn De Meerendre

A method is described for forming a film of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) on a substrate by deposition from a plasma. The substrate is placed in an enclosure, a film precursor gas is introduced into the enclosure, and unreacted and dissociated gas is extracted from the enclosure so as to provide a low pressure in the enclosure. Microwave energy is introduced into the gas within the enclosure to produce a plasma therein by distributed electron cyclotron resonance (DECR) and cause material to be deposited from the plasma on the substrate. The substrate is held during deposition at a temperature in the range 200-600&#xb0; C., preferably 225-350&#xb0; C. and a bias voltage is applied to the substrate at a level to give rise to a sheath potential in the range &#x2212;30 to &#x2212;105V, preferably using a source of RF power in the range of 50-250 mW/cm2 of the area of the substrate holder.

Deposition of amorphous silicon films by electron cyclotron resonance

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Palaiseau, France

Thien Hai Dao