Influence of an External Magnetic Field on the Growth of Nanocrystalline Silicon Films Grown by MF Magnetron Sputtering

The effects of an external magnetic field originating from two solenoid coils on the magnetic field configuration, plasma state of a dual unbalanced magnetron sputter system and the structure of nanocrystalline Si films were examined. Numerical simulations of the magnetic field configuration showed that increasing the coil current significantly changed the magnetic field distribution between the substrate and targets. The saturated ion current density J(i) in the substrate position measured by using a circular flat probe increased from 0.18 to 0.55 mA/cm(2) with the coil current ranging from 0 to 6 A. X-ray diffraction and Raman results revealed that increasing the ion density near the substrate would benefit crystallization of films and the preferential growth along [111] orientation. From analysis of the surface morphology and the microstructure of Si films grown under different plasma conditions, it is found that with increasing the J(i), the surface of the film was smoothed and the alteration in the surface roughness was mainly correlated to the localized surface diffusion of the deposited species and the crystallization behavior of the films.