title: Impact of AFM-induced nano-pits in a-Si:H films on silicon crystal growth.
abstract: Conductive tips in atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to localize field-enhanced metal-induced solid-phase crystallization (FE-MISPC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) at room temperature down to nanoscale dimensions. In this article, the authors show that such local modifications can be used to selectively induce further localized growth of silicon nanocrystals. First, a-Si:H films by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on nickel/glass substrates are prepared. After the FE-MISPC process, yielding both conductive and non-conductive nano-pits in the films, the second silicon layer at the boundary condition of amorphous and microcrystalline growth is deposited. Comparing AFM morphology and current-sensing AFM data on the first and second layers, it is observed that the second deposition changes the morphology and increases the local conductivity of FE-MISPC-induced pits by up to an order of magnitude irrespective of their prior conductivity. This is attributed to the silicon nanocrystals (<100 nm) that tend to nucleate and grow inside the pits. This is also supported by micro-Raman spectroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics ASCR, Cukrovarnicka 10, 16253, Prague 6, Czech Republic. verven@fzu.cz.
authors.forename: Elisseos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verveniotis
authors.forename: Bohuslav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rezek
authors.forename: Emil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sípek
authors.forename: Jiří
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stuchlík
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ledinský
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kočka