Eutectic Temperature Effect on Au Thin Film for the Formation of Si Nanostructures by Hot Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition

We investigated the effects of Au eutectic reaction on Si thin film growth by hot wire chemical vapor deposition. Small SiC and Si nano-particles fabricated through a wet etching process were coated and biased at 50 V on micro-textured Si p-n junction solar cells. Au thin film of 10 nm and a Si thin film of 100 nm were then deposited by an electron beam evaporator and hot wire chemical vapor deposition, respectively. The Si and SiC nano-particles and the Au thin film were structurally embedded in Si thin films. However, the Au thin film grew and eventually protruded from the Si thin film in the form of Au silicide nano-balls. This is attributed to the low eutectic bonding temperature ($363^{\circ}C$) of Au with Si, and the process was performed with a substrate that was pre-heated at a temperature of $450^{\circ}C$ during HWCVD. The nano-balls and structures showed various formations depending on the deposited metals and Si surface. Furthermore, the samples of Au nano-balls showed low reflectance due to surface plasmon and quantum confinement effects in a spectra range of short wavelength spectra range.