Combined growth of Si nanoparticles and crystallized silicon layers at 200 °C by reactive magnetron sputtering

Thin films of crystallized silicon were grown by reactive magnetron sputtering in a plasma of hydrogen-diluted argon with a degree varying in percentage from 0 to 100%. The effect of the cathode–substrate separating distance was also examined, while the deposition temperature was maintained at 200 °C. An amorphous-crystalline transition was found to take place at the early stages of hydrogenation (between 2 and 5%), followed by a columnar growth for higher dilution, as evidenced by Raman spectroscopy measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). High-resolution TEM showed also evidence for the formation of nanosized Si grains in the cathode-near region of the plasma, where exist high density of hydride radicals produced with a high level of dilution in hydrogen. A part of the created nanopowders were found to incorporate the film growing in the region of polymerization reaction, allowing hence the possibility of some size-selection through variation of the cathode–substrate spacing distance.