Deposition and field emission properties of highly crystallized silicon films on aluminum-coated polyethylene napthalate

Highly crystallized silicon films were deposited on aluminum-coated polyethylene napthalate (PEN) substrates by inductively coupled plasma (ICP-) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at room temperature. The films with uniform grains about 50 nm have the (1 1 1) preferred orientation. By studying the relation of the silicon film crystallinity to the flow ratio of SiH4 to H2, it was found that the interaction between precursors and aluminum layers plays an important role in the crystallization process. The surface roughness of the resultant films was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results reveal that the roughness of the silicon films on aluminum-coated PEN substrates, compared to the films on bare PEN substrates, is dependent on the film phase rather than the substrate morphology. The measurement of field electron emission of the crystalline silicon film indicates that the threshold field is about 8.3 V/μm and the emission is reproducible in the emission region.