Low-temperature epitaxial Si absorber layers grown by electron-cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition

We studied the homo-epitaxial growth of Si layers on crystalline Si(100) substrates in the temperature range from 420/spl deg/C to 510/spl deg/C using electron-cyclotron resonance chemical vapour deposition (ECRCVD). Above 480/spl deg/C the films grew epitaxially. Films deposited with a growth rate of 15 nm/min at 510/spl deg/C are of excellent crystallographic quality up to layer thicknesses as large as 2.23 /spl mu/m. With increasing thickness local highly defective regions were formed in the epitaxial films. They are cone-shaped and consist of thin polycrystalline needles only. An abrupt breakdown of epitaxial growth as usually reported in literature was not observed. The non-intentionally doped films are n-type independently on the substrate temperature. The film/substrate interfaces were analyzed by I-V measurements.