Possible contribution of SiH2 and SiH3 in the plasma-induced deposition of amorphous silicon from silane

Abstract

A self‐consistent quantitative analysis of recent kinetic data on the role of di‐ and trisilane in the plasma‐induced deposition of amorphous silicon from monosilane confirms the conclusion that the dominant reactive intermediate responsible for the formation of di‐ and trisilane and, consequently, for the deposition of a high quality amorphous silicon is SiH₂. The data show that the SiH₃ radical may play only a negligible, if any, role in this process.