[Research on the phase and optical properties of nc-Si films prepared by low temperature aluminum induced crystallization].

ABSTRACT

In the present paper, nanocrystalline silicon thin films on glass substrates were prepared by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of RF magnetron sputtered system and alpha-Si/Al films at a low temperature in Nz atmosphere. Optical metallographic microscope, confocal optical microscopy, X-ray diffractometer, Raman scattering and UV-Vis-NIR spectrometers were used to characterize the surface morphology and the phase and optical properties of nc-Si films. The influence of annealing process on the nc-Si films properties was studied. The results showed that nc-Si films were obtained after aluminum induced crystallization of the alpha-Si/Al films at 300 degrees C, withthe crystallization rate 15.56% and the grain size 1.75 nm. The surface uniformity and lattice distortion of nc-Si films reduced, while grain size, degree of crystallization and the optical band gap of the films increased with increasing annealing temperature from 300 to 400 degrees C. As the annealing temperature increased from 400 to 500 degrees C, although the degree of crystallization and grain size increased, the tendencies of all other characteristics were opposite. On the contrary, the surface uniformity and the lattice distortion increased, but the optical band gap of nc-Si films reduced. The optical properties of the resulting films were confirmed by the absorption model of nc-Si thin films, where the tendency of band gap changes is in consistent with the optical modeling.