CVD growth of silicon films at high rates

Abstract
Silicon growth at high growth rates is e.g. interesting for the production of solar cells. The growth of silicon from silane was systematically studied both in experiments and by computational modelling. The influence of two different buffer gases and of iodine as additive were investigated. In a cold-wall CVD reactor, growth rates of up to 1 micron/h were achieved, similar to modelling predictions. The morphology and growth rate as a function of pressure, temperature, flow rate, buffer gas and additive were studied. The samples were analysed by optical microscopy, SEM and in part by XRD and XPS. The morphology as well as the growth rate can be varied in a wide parameter range.