Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing

B. Haberl; S. N. Bogle; T. Li; I. McKerracher; S. Ruffell; P. Munroe; J. S. Williams; J. R. Abelson; J. E. Bradby

doi:10.1063/1.3658628

Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing

B. Haberl^*, S. N. Bogle, T. Li, I. McKerracher, S. Ruffell, P. Munroe, J. S. Williams, J. R. Abelson, J. E. Bradby

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the structure of magnetron-sputtered (MS) amorphous silicon (a-Si) prepared under standard deposition conditions and compare this to pure ion-implanted (II) a-Si. The structure of both films is characterized in their as-prepared and thermally annealed states. Significant differences are observed in short- and medium-range order following thermal annealing. Whereas II a-Si undergoes structural relaxation toward a continuous random network, MS a-Si exhibits little change. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of nanopores in the MS film consistent with reduced mass-density. Therefore, the short- and medium-range order of annealed, MS a-Si is tentatively attributed to these pores.

Original language	English
Article number	096104
Journal	Journal of Applied Physics
Volume	110
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3658628
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2011

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title = "Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing",

abstract = "We investigate the structure of magnetron-sputtered (MS) amorphous silicon (a-Si) prepared under standard deposition conditions and compare this to pure ion-implanted (II) a-Si. The structure of both films is characterized in their as-prepared and thermally annealed states. Significant differences are observed in short- and medium-range order following thermal annealing. Whereas II a-Si undergoes structural relaxation toward a continuous random network, MS a-Si exhibits little change. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of nanopores in the MS film consistent with reduced mass-density. Therefore, the short- and medium-range order of annealed, MS a-Si is tentatively attributed to these pores.",

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T1 - Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing

AU - Haberl, B.

AU - Bogle, S. N.

AU - Li, T.

AU - McKerracher, I.

AU - Ruffell, S.

AU - Munroe, P.

AU - Williams, J. S.

AU - Abelson, J. R.

AU - Bradby, J. E.

PY - 2011/11/1

Y1 - 2011/11/1

N2 - We investigate the structure of magnetron-sputtered (MS) amorphous silicon (a-Si) prepared under standard deposition conditions and compare this to pure ion-implanted (II) a-Si. The structure of both films is characterized in their as-prepared and thermally annealed states. Significant differences are observed in short- and medium-range order following thermal annealing. Whereas II a-Si undergoes structural relaxation toward a continuous random network, MS a-Si exhibits little change. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of nanopores in the MS film consistent with reduced mass-density. Therefore, the short- and medium-range order of annealed, MS a-Si is tentatively attributed to these pores.

AB - We investigate the structure of magnetron-sputtered (MS) amorphous silicon (a-Si) prepared under standard deposition conditions and compare this to pure ion-implanted (II) a-Si. The structure of both films is characterized in their as-prepared and thermally annealed states. Significant differences are observed in short- and medium-range order following thermal annealing. Whereas II a-Si undergoes structural relaxation toward a continuous random network, MS a-Si exhibits little change. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of nanopores in the MS film consistent with reduced mass-density. Therefore, the short- and medium-range order of annealed, MS a-Si is tentatively attributed to these pores.

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DO - 10.1063/1.3658628

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VL - 110

JO - Journal of Applied Physics

JF - Journal of Applied Physics

IS - 9

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Unexpected short- and medium-range atomic structure of sputtered amorphous silicon upon thermal annealing

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