Papers by Author: Siti Meriam Ab. Gani

Abstract: Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films produced by layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition technique were studied. The films were grown at different hydrogen to silane flow-rate ratio on crystal silicon (111) substrate. The properties of films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, optical transmission spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). These properties showed dependence on the hydrogen dilution of silane. Appearance of XRD peaks at diffraction angles of 28.4 o and 56.1 o which correspond to silicon orientation of (111) and (311) respectively, were observed in all films indicating evidence of crystallinity in the films. Raman scattering results indicated that crystallinity in the films was due to the presence of nanocrystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix. The energy gap of the films showed dependence on the hydrogen content in the films. Increase in nanocrystallite size resulted in increase in disorder at low hydrogen dilution films but films remain homogenous with increase in nanocrystallite size for the high hydrogen dilution films.

Abstract: A direct-current plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) system was designed and built in-house for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous carbon(a-C:H) thin films. In this work, a-C:H thin films prepared using this system at different deposition pressures were studied. The influence of deposition pressure on the deposition rate, energy gap, bonded hydrogen content and structure of the film has been investigated. The characterization techniques were determined from optical transmission spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Xray diffraction measurements. The results demonstrated that the deposition pressure had strong influence on the deposition rate, optical energy gap and the bonded H content in the film. Evidence of crystallinity was observed in films prepared at low deposition pressure.