Non-classical crystallization of silicon thin films during hot wire chemical vapor deposition

The deposition behavior of silicon films by hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) was approached by non-classical crystallization, where the building block of deposition is a nanoparticle generated in the gas phase of the reactor. The puzzling phenomenon of the formation of an amorphous incubation layer on glass could be explained by the liquid-like property of small charged nanoparticles (CNPs), which are generated in the initial stage of the HWCVD process. Using the liquid-like property of small CNPs, homo-epitaxial growth as thick as ~150 nm could be successfully grown on a silicon wafer at 600 °C under the processing condition where CNPs as small as possible could be supplied steadily by a cyclic process which periodically resets the process. The size of CNPs turned out to be an important parameter in the microstructure evolution of thin films.