Impact of AFM-induced nano-pits in a-Si:H films on silicon crystal growth

Autor: Verveniotis Elisseos, Rezek Bohuslav, Šípek Emil, Stuchlík Jiří, Ledinský Martin, Kočka Jan
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nanoscale Research Letters, Vol 6, Iss 1, p 145 (2011)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1931-7573
1556-276X
Popis: Abstract Conductive tips in atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to localize field-enhanced metal-induced solid-phase crystallization (FE-MISPC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) at room temperature down to nanoscale dimensions. In this article, the authors show that such local modifications can be used to selectively induce further localized growth of silicon nanocrystals. First, a-Si:H films by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on nickel/glass substrates are prepared. After the FE-MISPC process, yielding both conductive and non-conductive nano-pits in the films, the second silicon layer at the boundary condition of amorphous and microcrystalline growth is deposited. Comparing AFM morphology and current-sensing AFM data on the first and second layers, it is observed that the second deposition changes the morphology and increases the local conductivity of FE-MISPC-induced pits by up to an order of magnitude irrespective of their prior conductivity. This is attributed to the silicon nanocrystals (
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