Highly-Crystallized Ge:H Film Growth from GeH4 Very High Frequency Inductively-Coupled Plasma: Crystalline Nucleation Initiated by Ni Nanodots
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: We prepared Ni nanodots (Ni-NDs) by exposing ultrathin Ni films to very high frequency inductively-coupled plasma (VHF-ICP) of pure H2 without any external heating and demonstrated the feasibility of introducing Ni-NDs for subsequent Ge film growth with high crystallinity. A ∼2.0-nm-thick Ni film/quartz was exposed to H2 plasma generated by inductive coupling with an external single-turn antenna connected to a 60-MHz power generator, and a Ge film was subsequently grown from GeH4 VHF-ICP. When the Ge film was grown on Ni-NDs from GeH4 VHF-ICP at 250 °C, the growth of highly crystallized Ge films with crystallinity as high as 95% at a rate as high as ∼15 nm/s, being ∼2 times higher than the rate obtained by VHF-ICP without Ni-NDs, was realized without an amorphous phase near the Ge film/quartz substrate interface. This result is attributed to heat generation due to the efficient recombination of atomic hydrogen on the Ni surface and heat transfer from the NDs to the precursors for the Ge film adsorbed on the Ni-NDs at the initial stage of VHF-ICP from GeH4 diluted with H2 to initiate crystalline nucleation and growth.
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1985411950