Atmospheric pressure (AP) plasma provides an alternative approach to low-cost thin-film deposition. The low throughput of epitaxial growth, which limits productivity in semiconductor manufacturing, can be addressed by using AP plasma. In principle, AP plasma does no damage and enables local heating of the deposition surface. In Si epitaxial growth using AP plasma, hydrogen incorporation and quiescent gas flow are shown to be key factors controlling epitaxial growth even under a high environmental impurity flux and at a low substrate temperature of 150 degrees C. Quiescent plasma at AP is promising for future epitaxial processing owing to its low cost and high productivity.
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