Rapid Thermal Annealing of HWCVD a-Si:H Films: The Effect of the Film Hydrogen Content on the Crystallization Kinetics, Surface Morphology, and Grain Growth

We report the effect of the hydrogen (H) content (CH) on the crystallization kinetics, surface morphology and grain growth for Hot Wire CVD a-Si:H films containing 12.5 and 2.7 at.% H which are crystallized by rapid thermal anneal (RTA). For the high CH film we observe explosive H evolution, with a resultant destruction of the film for RTA temperatures >750 deg C. At RTA temperatures~600 deg C,both films remain intact with similar morphologies. At this same lower RTA, the incubation and crystallization times decrease, and the grain size as measured by X-Ray Diffraction increases with decreasing film CH. SIMS measurements indicate that a similar film CH (<0.5 at.%) exists in both films when crystallization commences. The benefits of a two-step annealing process for the high CH film aredocumented.