High-rate and wide-area deposition of epitaxial Si films by mesoplasma chemical vapor deposition.

Homoepitaxial Si films have been deposited at a high rate of 200 nm s-1 over a wide area of 20 mm × 80 mm by cluster-assisted mesoplasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD) on a moving substrate. The obtained epitaxial Si films exhibited a uniform roughness of 0.1-0.3 nm (1 × 1 µm2) and a Hall mobility of ∼240 cm2 V-1 s-1. The results suggested that under the MPCVD the deposition precursors formed at the plasma edge could be small enough not to influence either epitaxial film structure or the film quality provided the substrate temperature is maintained above 500 °C.