Co-sputtering of Microcrystalline SiGe Thin Films for Optoelectronic Devices

Recently, Silicon Germanium (SiGe) alloys have been received considerable attention for their great potentials in advanced electronic and optoelectronic devices. Especially, microcrystalline SiGe is a good channel material for thin film transistor due to its advantages such as narrow and variable band gap and process compatibility with Si based integrated circuits. In this work, microcrystalline silicon-germanium films (${\mu}c$-SiGe) were deposited by DC/RF magnetron co-sputtering method using Si and Ge target on Corning glass substrates. The film composition was controlled by changing DC and RF powers applied to each target. The substrate temperatures were changed from $100^{\circ}C$ to $450^{\circ}C$. The microstructure of the thin films was analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The analysis results showed that the crystallinity of the films enhances with increasing Ge mole fraction. Also, crystallization temperature was reduced to $300^{\circ}C$ with $H_2$ dilution. Hall measurements indicated that the electrical properties were improved by Ge alloying.