Rapid thermal annealing of hydrogenated amorphous silicon grown at low temperature

摘要

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon with different levels of phosphorous doping has been deposited by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a temperature of 125 °C. Its electrical properties are largely inferior to those of standard material grown at 275 °C, but they can be improved by a rapid thermal annealing process. The change in electrical conductivity depends on the doping level and is better for 0.1 than 1 or undoped samples. In this case the electrical conductivity, after annealing, increases by three orders of magnitude and is only a factor of 10 less than that of the best conducting material produced at 275 °C. The improvement in electrical properties is not causatively related to the loss of hydrogen. This low‐temperature material, after annealing, forms relatively low resistance contacts with molybdenum or aluminum and is suitable for application in thin‐film transistor technology.