Abstract
Hydrogen atoms are abstracted from the surface of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films by impinging H(D) atoms through an Eley-Rideal mechanism that is characterized by a zero activation energy barrier. This has been revealed by systematic analysis of the interactions of H(D) atoms with a-Si:H films during exposure to an H2(D2) plasma using synergistically molecular-dynamics simulations and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with spectroscopic ellipsometry. Understanding such interactions is of utmost importance in optimizing the plasma deposition of silicon thin films.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | L469-L474 |
| Journal | Surface Science |
| Volume | 515 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2002 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the NSF/DoE Partnership for Basic Plasma Science and Engineering (Awards No. DMR-9713280 and ECS-0078711) and by the Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation through Camille Dreyfus Teacher–Scholar Awards to two of the authors (E.S.A. and D.M.). A.T. is supported by the Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.
Keywords
- Amorphous surfaces
- Hydrogen atom
- Infrared absorption spectroscopy
- Molecular dynamics
- Plasma processing
- Semiconductor-semiconductor thin film structures
- Silicon
- Surface chemical reaction