The influence of substrate temperature on the hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon growth through hollow cathode plasma

we exhibited the micro-hollow cathode (MHC) discharge to perform plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) in this paper. The role of substrate temperature on the μc-Si:H crystalline was focused. After testifying three substrates, glass, indium tin oxide (ITO) coating glass, and ITO coating polyimide (PI), we obtained over 80% crystalline volume fraction of μc-Si:H formed on the glass substrate. It was found that even the substrate temperature was as low as 120 °C the microcrystal Si can still be grown on ITO coating PI. We believe the high ionization rate in MHC due to hollow cathode effect promotes the microcrystal Si formation.