Growth of microcrystal silicon by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition

We have studied the growth of microcrystal silicon films by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition as growth parameters of substrate temperature and rf power. With increasing substrate temperature, the growth rate increases because of the decrease of the etch rate. The rf power dependence shows that the growth rate decreases with increasing rf power at high power levels. The results indicate that the chemical equilibrium between the deposition and etching of Si on the growing surface gives rise to the growth of microcrystal Si, resulting in the optimum rf power and substrate temperature for the growth of microcrystalline silicon.