CS219142B1 - Process for producing inorganic amorphous or polycrystalline layers - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the production of thin inorganic layers. The invention solves a method of producing inorganic amorphous or polycrystalline thin layers or a system of such layers. The essence of the invention: a method of producing inorganic amorphous or polycrystalline layers with a thickness in the range of 0.001 to 500 micrometers, or a system of such layers, by vaporizing or sputtering metals, silicon, their alloys or compounds under an absolute pressure in the range of 0.01 to 100 Pa, by vaporizing or sputtering in a gaseous environment a substance of the general formula XYm, where the symbol X denotes an atom of antimony, arsenic, nitrogen, molybdenum, niobium, sulfur, selenium, tantalum, thallium, tellurium, uranium, vanadium, bismuth or tungsten, Y represents a halogen atom and m is an integer with a value of 1 to 6, and whose partial pressure is in the range of 0.01 to 50 Pa.

Description

The invention relates to a process for the production of inorganic amorphous or poly-crystalline thin films or systems of such films.

In the present world technology, various processes are used in the production of thin inorganic layers, such as vapor deposition of solids under a reduced pressure of usually less than 0.01 Pa, sputtering of solids with inert gas ions such as argon, helium at a pressure of usually 0.1 to 10 Pa and also sputtering under additional reactive atmospheres such as silane or methane etc. Nitrides and oxides are usually also prepared by reactive sputtering or reactive vapor deposition in an atmosphere such as oxygen, nitrogen or ammonia [International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings, San Diego 1980, Thin] solid Films 72 (1980) 873] Amorphous silicon with variable electrical conductivity can be prepared by sputtering of silicon in an atmosphere consisting of argon with SiF4 and boron fluoride Some BFs and / or phosphorus fluoride PFs [H. Matsamura et al., J. Appl. Phys. 51 (1981) 291].

Further, there is a method for producing an amorphous or polycrystalline thin layer, wherein a gaseous mixture of fluoride or metal chloride of the fourth, fifth or sixth group of the Periodic Table with an orgone, nitrogen, oxygen, neon or hydrogen, and / or fluoride, chloride or hydride is suitable. At a pressure of 10 ^{6 6} to 500 Pa, a glow discharge with a frequency ranging from 0 to 10 ¹⁰ Hz is applied. However, this manufacturing process is limited in some respects, since it is not possible to apply a layer of all suitable gas mixtures by means of a glow discharge, and some layer properties such as the amount of hydrogen incorporated during silane decomposition at a given substrate temperature are difficult to influence.

Further findings have shown that it is expedient and necessary to solve a new technological process which exploits the advantageous properties of fluorides and chlorides of certain metals, free of the above limitations.

This object is achieved by the present invention, which relates to a process for producing inorganic amorphous or polycrystalline layers having a thickness in the range of 0.001 to 50 microns or a system of such layers, by vapor deposition or sputtering of metals, their alloys or other substances at an absolute pressure of 0.01 to 100 Bye. The present invention relates to a process in which the vapor deposition or sputtering is carried out in a gaseous medium of the formula XY _m , wherein X is an antimony, arsenic, nitrogen, molybdenum, niobium, sulfur, selenium, tantalum, thallium, tellurium, uranium, vanadium, bismuth or tungsten, Y represents a halogen atom and is an integer of 1 to 6, and whose partial pressure is in the range of 0.01 to 50 Pa.

The invention is based on the discovery that the compounds of formula XY _m according to the invention are safer, more economical and advantageous compared to the state of the art, and have a better effect in terms of the physical properties of the layers. Depending on the operating conditions chosen, either amorphous or polycrystalline layers with a thickness in the range of 0.001 to 50 microns can be vaporized or sputtered with a reasonable consumption of electricity.

The advantages of this solution are apparent from the following exemplary embodiment, which illustrates the nature of the invention without limiting it in any way.

Example

In a diode high-frequency sputtering system with electrodes 8 centimeters apart 10 cm apart, a fluorinated amorphous silicon or a silicon-antimony alloy is sputtered from a pure silicon target using an argon-silica-antimony fluoride admixture at an absolute pressure of 0.1 up to 10 Pa and at an output of 10 to 1000 W on a glass, ceramic, metal or plastic substrate having a temperature in the range of 18 to 500 ° C. The mixture of argon with silica fluoride and antimony fluoride contains 50 to 99.99% by weight of argon and silica fluoride. This produces an amorphous substance which is thermally stable up to about 600 ° C and whose electrical conductivity can be varied within several orders of magnitude; in this case, as the concentration of antimony fluoride increases, the position of the absorption edge can be shifted to greater wavelengths.

Claims (1)

A process for the production of inorganic amorphous or polycrystalline layers having a thickness in the range of 0.001 to 500 microns or a set of such layers, by vapor deposition or sputtering of metals, silicon, their alloys or compounds under an absolute pressure of 0.01 to 100 Pa. sputtering is carried out in a gaseous medium of the formula XY _m in which X represents antimony, arsenic, nitrogen, molybdenum, niobium, sulfur, selenium, itantal, thallium, tellurium, uranium, vanadium, bismuth or tungsten, Y is halogen and m is an integer value of 1 to 6, and whose partial pressure is in the range of 0.01 to 50 Pa.