SURFACE CONTROLLED PLASMA DEPOSITION AND ETCHING OF SILICON NEAR THE CHEMICAL-EQUILIBRIUM

In this study we present investigations of silicon growth and etching in a dilute SiH4/H-2 plasma near the partial chemical equilibrium in o rder to study nucleation processes at the growth surface in plasma CVD . mu c-Si:H and a-Si:H deposited on Coming 7059 glass substrates was s imultaneously exposed to an extremely diluted SiH4 in H-2 VHF plasma a t a frequency of 100 MHz. Under conditions used in our study simultane ous growth of mu c-Si:H and etching of a-Si:H is observed. The results support the pc-Si:H growth model in which the net growth rate is the difference of a deposition and an etch rate.