Characteristics of fluoride/glass as a seed layer for microcrystalline silicon film growth

Various fluoride films on a glass substrate were prepared and characterized to provide a seed layer for crystalline Si film growth. The XRD analysis on $CaF_2/glass$ illustrated (220) preferential orientation and showed lattice mismatch less than 5 % with Si. We achieved a fluoride film with breakdown electric field of 1.27 MV/cm, leakage current density about $10^{-6}$ $A/cm^2$, and relative dielectric constant less than 5.6. This paper demonstrates microcrystalline silicon $({\mu}c-Si)$ film growth by using a $CaF_2/glass$ substrate. The ${\mu}c-Si$ films exhibited crystallization in (111) and (220) planes, grain size of $700\;{\AA}$, crystalline volume fraction over 65 %, dark- and photo-conductivity ratio of 124, activation energy of 0.49 eV, and dark conductivity less than $4{\times}10^{-7}$ S/cm.