Investigation of surface treatment effect of catalyst on the lifetime for Cat-CVD method

Abstract In case of amorphous silicon (a-Si) film deposition by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) method, a metal catalyzing wire is converted to silicide and this silicidation causes shortening lifetime of the catalyzing wire. In the present work, the effect of surface carbonization of catalyzing wire against silicide formation is investigated to obtain long-life catalyzer. Characteristics of a-Si film deposited by carbonized tungsten (W) catalyzer are also investigated. Silicide layer thickness formed on carbonized catalyzing wires after 60 min a-Si film deposition decreases to half of that on uncarbonized wires. Device quality a-Si films having defect density less than 4 × 10 15 cm −3 are obtained by using carbonized W, indicating that surface carbonization of W catalyzer is effective process for industrial application of Cat-CVD method.