Electron paramagnetic resonance study on the annealing behavior of vacuum deposited amorphous silicon on crystalline silicon

Abstract

Structure of amorphous silicon (a-Si) vacuum deposited on single-crystal (100) silicon (c-Si) with and without clean surfaces achieved by ion sputtering and annealing has been examined by using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as a function of annealing temperature. Annealing behavior of EPR signal can be explained well on the basis of TEM observation that there are void networks in a-Si film deposited on c-Si with native oxide but no such structure in a-Si film on c-Si with clean surface. Structure of a-Si, where solid phase epitaxial growth occurs at a high rate, is compared with that of ion bombarded a-Si.