Method for producing an amorphous silicon semiconductor device using a

Abstract

A method of producing an amorphous silicon semiconductor device makes use of a capacitance-coupled high-frequency glow-discharge semiconductor production apparatus which is equipped with a plurality of glow-discharge chambers each having a high-frequency electrode and a substrate holder opposing each other and means for supplying material gases to the glow-discharge chambers. A reaction of a material gas is effected in a first glow-discharge chamber, so as to form a semiconductor layer having a first conductivity type on a substrate introduced into the first glow-discharge chamber, and, after moving the substrate into a second glow-discharge chamber, a reaction of a material gas different from the material gas used in the first glow-discharge chamber is effected, thereby forming a semiconductor layer having a second conductivity type on the semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type. The substrate with the semiconductor layer of the first conductivity formed thereon is moved from the first glow-discharge chamber to the second glow-discharge chamber after a predetermined gas atmosphere is formed in the first glow-discharge chamber. The distance between the electrode and the substrate holder is made smaller in one of the first and second glow-discharge chambers which is designed for forming the thicker one of the semiconductor layers of the first and second conductivity types than in the other of the first and second glow-discharge chambers. The temperature of the substrate is set higher in one of the first and second glow-discharge chambers which is designed for forming the thicker one of the semiconductor layers of the first and second conductivity types than in the other of the first and second glow-discharge chambers.