Investigation of Deposition Parameter Effects on Energy Bandgap of Silicon Thin Film Prepared by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition via Factorial Experiment

Abstract:

The energy bandgap (Eg) of silicon thin film prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is greatly dependent on the deposition conditions. Although the influence of some deposition parameters on Eg has been studied individually, it is still not clear which parameter plays the most important role. Here, a 5-factor 5-level factorial experiment was designed and carried out for the deposition parameters: the flow rate of SiH4, the flow rate of H2, the plasma power, the total gas pressure, and the substrate temperature. By making main effect analysis to the influences of such 5 factors on Eg, not only the influence of each deposition parameter was obtained, but also the most critical parameters were selected out. It was found that the gas flow rate of SiH4 and the total gas pressure played the most important roles on determining Eg of silicon thin film. That is to say, in order to obtain an expected Eg for Si thin film prepared by PECVD, much attention should be paid to optimize the two parameters. However, other parameters, including the H2 flow rate, the plasma power and the substrate temperature, can be set as default values according to the experience. Thus, the optimization workload can be reduced greatly.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 463-464)
• Pages: 592-596
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.463-464.592
• Online since: February 2012
• Authors: Lei Zhao, Ben Ding Zhao, Bao Jun Yan, Hong Wei Diao, Wen Jing Wang
• Keywords: Energy Band Gap, Factorial Experiment, PECVD, Silicon Thin Film

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