Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon-based thin films in a halogenlamp reactor

Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) in halogen lamp-heated react or (RTLPCVD: rapid thermal LPCVD) is a promising technique for silicon-base d thin films deposition. Indeed, overall process time and gas consumption r eduction in RTP reactors allows to project new device fabrication technolog ies (microsensors, solar cells) in order to reach a higher environmental sa fety with respect to classical technologies. Various gases available on our RTP installation (SiH4, NH3, N2O, O-2, PH3, B2H6) enable several silicon-b ased thin films RTLPCVD deposition: intrinsic polycrystalline silicon (poly -Si) films or in situ doped poly-Si, silicon nitride (Si-N) and oxynitride (Si-O-N). In this paper, we discuss our results on deposition kinetics and physical properties of these thin films. It appeared that RTLPCVD silicon-b ased thin films with interesting structural, electrical, and optical proper ties can be synthesized in our lamp-heated reactor with a tight control of process parameters such as temperature, pressure, and gas flow ratios.