Influence of hot wire on the formation of microcrystalline silicon in MWECR-CVD system

The high-crystallinity and low-defect-density microcrystalline silicon films (μc-Si:H) was prepared by using a new hot-wire-assisted microwave electron cyclotron resonance-chemical vapor deposition (HWAMWECR-CVD) system. In this system the hot wire plays an important role in suppressing the growth of a-Si:H in favor of μc-Si:H, thus improving the physical properties. The experimental results show that the μc-Si:H film prepared by using this new system, the crystalline volume fraction is increased from 16.4% to 63.2%, the photoconductivity is increased by two orders of magnitude, the optical band gap is decreased to 1.59 eV, and the light-induced degradation keeps almost constant compared to that prepared by conventional system.