Enhanced crystallinity of low-temperature-deposited silicon films on graphite substrates

Abstract

Silicon thin films (2000-3000 Å) were vacuum deposited onto graphite substrates held at 600°C with a prior coating of an ultrathin Si-Al-Si (∼100-500-100 Å) sandwich layer. X-ray diffraction showed a considerable increase in silicon crystallinity over those directly deposited onto graphite at the same substrate temperature. The increase observed is comparable to that using quartz substrates. The distribution of aluminum in the silicon films thus deposited is determined using Auger spectroscopic depth profiling.