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Low Temperature Plasma Synthesis of Nanocrystals and their Application to the Growth of Crystalline Silicon and Germanium Thin Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2012

P. Roca i Cabarrocas
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
K.H. Kim
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France Total S.A., Gas & Power – R&D Division, Courbevoie, France
R. Cariou
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
M. Labrune
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France Total S.A., Gas & Power – R&D Division, Courbevoie, France
E.V. Johnson
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
M. Moreno
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
A. Torres Rios
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
S. Abolmasov
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
S. Kasouit
Affiliation:
LPICM, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France Total S.A., Gas & Power – R&D Division, Courbevoie, France
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Abstract

We summarize our research studies on the synthesis of silicon and germanium nanocrystals and their application to the growth of a variety of thin films, spanning the range from fully disordered amorphous up to fully ordered crystalline. All these films are deposited in a standard radio-frequency glow discharge system at low temperature (~200 °C). We show how the plasma synthesis of silicon nanocrystals, initially a side effect of powder formation, has become over the years an exciting field of research which has opened the way to new opportunities in the field of materials deposition and their application to optoelectronic devices. Our results suggest that epitaxy requires the melting/amorphization of the nanocrystals upon impact on the substrate, the subsequent epitaxial growth being favored on (100) c-Si substrates. As a consequence, the control of the impact energy is a critical aspect of the growth which will require new strategies such as the use of tailored voltage waveforms.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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