Dependence of glow discharge Si:H:Cl film morphology on diluent gas and SiCl4 partial pressure

TEM, THEED and field-assisted silver ion exchange have been employed to study the glow discharge (GD) Si∶H∶Cl films deposited from SiH4-SiCl4 gas mixtures. The character of the THEED patterns shows that the films are rather amorphous, and that their structure does not alter with the change in the gas mixture. The honeycomb-like morphology of the films is strongly affected by the type of gas in which SiH4 is diluted (Ar or H2). An increase in the SiCl4 partial pressure leads to the uniformity and to the decrease of the island dimension only for the films deposited from SiH4(H2)-SiCl4. A possible correlation between the film morphology and the micropore density is proposed.