Automated PECVD System for Fabrication of a-Si:H Devices

This paper reports a fully automated plasma-enhanced plasma chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system for thin-film deposition. This system can be used for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nanocrystalline silicon for devices like solar cells or optical sensors with good film homogeneity and material properties reproducibility. The control software enables two modes of system operation: semi-manual and full-auto. In the semi-manual mode the user sets all process parameters and controls all depositions steps. In the full-auto mode, the program performs the process steps according to script commands in a recipe file. This way, complex multilayered devices can be fabricated, with a high degree of reproducibility of the device characteristics.