Abstract
Boron-doped hydrogenated microcrystalline Germanium (μc-Ge:H) films were deposited by hot-wire CVD. H2 diluted GeH4 and B2H6 were used as precursors and the substrate temperature was kept at 300 °C. The properties of the samples were analyzed by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and Hall Effect measurement with Van der Pauw method. It is found that the films are partially crystallized, with crystalline fractions larger than 45% and grain sizes smaller than 50 nm. The B-doping can enhance the crystallization but reduce the grain sizes, and also enhance the preferential growth of Ge (220). The conductivity of the films increases and tends to be saturated with increasing diborane-to-germane ratio \(R_{B_2 H_6 } \). All the Hall mobilities of the samples are larger than 3.8 cm2·V−1·s−1. A high conductivity of 41.3 Ω−1·cm−1 is gained at \(R_{B_2 H_6 } \)=6.7%.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bitnar B, Durisch W, Mayor J C, et al. Characterisation of Rare Earth Selective Emitters for Ther-mophotovoltaic Applications [J]. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 2002, 73(3): 221–234
Miles R W. Photovoltaic Solar Cells: Choice of Materials and Production Methods [J]. Vacuum, 2006, 80(10): 1 090–1 097
Granata J E, Fetzer C, Ermer J H, et al. Ultra Triple Junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge Solar Cells: Cell Design and Qualification Status [C]. 3rd World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 2003
Jordan W B, Wagner S. Effects of Deposition Temperature and Film Thickness on the Structural, Electrical and Optical Properties of Germanium Thin Films[C]. 2002 MRS Spring Meeting. 2002, 715: 509–514
Okamoto Y, Makihara K, Higashi S, et al. Formation of Microcrystalline Germanium (μc-Ge:H) Films from Inductively Coupled Plasma CVD [J]. Applied Surface Science. 2005, 244(1–4): 12–15
Tsutomu Sakata, Katsunori Makihara, Hidenori Deki, et al. Low Temperature High-rate Growth of Crystalline Ge Films on Quartz and Crystalline Si Substrates from VHF Inductively-coupled Plasma of GeH4 [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2008, 517(1): 216–218
Zanzig L, Beyer W, Wagner H. High Quality Hydro-genated Amorphous Germanium Prepared by the Hot Wire Technique [J]. Applied Physics Letters, 1995, 67(11): 1 567–1 569
Mukherjee C, Seitz H, Schröder B. Growth of Epitaxial Germanium Films on Silicon Using Hot-wires Chemical Vapor Deposition [J]. Applied Physics Letters, 2001, 78(22): 3 457–3 459
Xu Yueqin, Mahan A H, Lynn M, et al. Deposition of Photosensitive Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon-germanium Films with a Tantalum Hot Wire [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2006, 501(1–2): 198–201
Matsumura H, Ohdaira K. Recent Situation of Industrial Implementation of Cat-CVD Technology in Japan [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2008, 516(5): 537–540
Matsumura H, Izumi A, Masuda A. Cat-CVD as a New Fabrication Technology of Semiconductor Devices[C]. Conference on Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materi-als and Devices, 2002
Bink A, Brinza M, Jongen J P H, et al. Continuous Hot-wire Chemical Vapor Deposition on Moving Glass Substrates [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2009, 517(12): 3 588–3 590
Sahu L, Kale N, Kulkarni N, et al. Internal Stress in Cat-CVD Microcrystalline Si:H Thin Films[J]. Thin Solid Films, 2006, 501(1–2): 117–120
Wortman J J, Evans R A. Young’s Modulus, Shear Modulus, and Poisson’s Ratio in Silicon and Germanium [J]. Journal of Applied Physics, 1965, 36(1): 153–156
Park J, Kwon S, Jun S I, et al. Stress Induced Crystallization of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon [J]. Thin Solid Films, 2009, 517(11):3 222–3 226
Sasaki Y and Horie C. Resonant Raman Study of Phonon States in Gas-evaporated Ge Small Particles [J]. Physics Review B, 2007, 47:3 811–3 818
Zanatta A R, Chambouleyron I. Low-temperature Al-induced Crystallization of Amorphous Ge [J]. Journal of Applied Physics, 2005, 97(9): 094 914
Xu Y, Mahan A H, Gedvilas L M, et al. Deposition of Photosensitive Hydrogenated Amor-phous Silicon-germanium Films with a Tantalum Hot Wire[J]. Thin Solid Films, 2006, 501(1–2): 198–201
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Funded by the National High-tech Research and Development Program of China(863 Program) (No.2006AA03Z219), Graduate Innovation Plan of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (No.BCXJ08-10) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.61306084)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, H., Shen, H., Wu, T. et al. Properties of boron-doped μc-Ge:H films deposited by hot-wire CVD. J. Wuhan Univ. Technol.-Mat. Sci. Edit. 30, 516–519 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-015-1182-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11595-015-1182-x