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PROPERTIES OF NONTHERMAL CAPACITIVELY COUPLED PLASMAS GENERATED IN NARROW QUARTZ TUBES FOR SYNTHESIS OF SILICON NANOPARTICLES * Sang-Heon Song a ) , Romain Le Picard b) , Steven L. Girshick b) , Uwe R. Kortshagen b) , and Mark J. Kushner a) a) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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PROPERTIES OF NONTHERMAL CAPACITIVELY COUPLED PLASMAS GENERATED IN NARROW QUARTZ TUBES FOR SYNTHESIS OF SILICON NANOPARTICLES* Sang-Heon Songa), Romain Le Picardb), Steven L. Girshickb), Uwe R. Kortshagenb), and Mark J. Kushnera) a)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA ssongs@umich.edu, mjkush@umich.edu b)University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA rlepicar@umn.edu, slg@umn.edu, kortshagen@umn.edu 40th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) San Francisco, USA, June16-21, 2013 * Work supported by National Science Foundation and DOE Plasma Science Center.
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. AGENDA • Plasma nanoparticle synthesis • Description of the model • Typical Ar/SiH4plasma properties • Nanoparticle density • Power • Pressure • Flow rate • SiH4fraction • Concluding remarks ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NANOCRYSTALS (QUANTUM DOT) • Size-dependent photoluminescence from Si nanocrystals • Si nanocrystals fluoresce with properties akin to direct band-gap semiconductors. The emission wavelength is a function of the size of the nanocrystal. • Applications • Photovoltaic device • Light emitting device • Quantum computing • Biological imaging Ref: I. L. Medintz et al., Nature Material 4, 435 (2005). ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. PLASMA-SYNTHESIZED SILICON NANOCRYSTALS • Gas-phase plasma processes for Si nano-crystal production are environmentally friendly without producing liquid effluents. • The silicon nanoparticles (SiNP) are formed by clustering of the dissociation products of SiH4 passing through the plasma zone. • Exothermic reactions of H-atoms on the surface of nanoparticles likely produce temperatures sufficient to anneal amorphous particles to crystals. • The quality of silicon nanocrystal (SiNC) can be controlled by injecting additional gases downstream of the primary plasma. Ref: R. J. Anthony et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 21, 4042 (2011). ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. HYBRID PLASMA EQUIPMENT MODEL (HPEM) • Fluid Kinetics Module: • Heavy particles – Continuity, momentum, and energy equations • Electron – Continuity and energy equations • Poisson’s equation • Electron Monte-Carlo Module (eMCS): • Secondary electron emission • HPEM is parallelized using OpenMP • Parallel successive over relaxation (SOR) utilized red-black scheme for electron energy, gas temperature, and Poisson’s equations. • eMCS optimized for parallel execution ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. GLOBAL CHEMISTRY MODEL (GLOCHE) Gas Phase Reaction Mechanism Time Dependent Kinetics • Plug flow reactor model • Reaction mechanism is compatible with HPEM. • Time dependent gas phase reaction kinetics are calculated using predictor-corrector scheme (Adams-Bashforth-Moulton method). ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. REACTOR GEOMETRY: CCP TUBE • 2D, cylindrically symmetric • Tube radius = 0.3 cm • Electrode separation = 2.2 cm • Operating conditions • Ar/SiH4 = 95/5 (range 99/1 – 90/10) • Pressure = 2 Torr (range 0.5 – 4 Torr) • Flow rate = 50 sccm (range 10 – 100 sccm) • Frequency = 25 MHz • Power = 1 W (range 1 – 10 W) ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NUCLEATION REACTIONS BY NEUTRALS • 84 species are included in the mechanism • Medium sized silicon hydride = 63 species • Reaction hierarchy up to Si10H20. Higher silanes are “particles” • Nucleation reactions with neutrals • 28 reactions: Silyl formation by H abstraction. • SinH2m + H → SinH2m-1 + H2 k =2.44×10–16T1.9exp(–2190/T) cm3/s • 106 reactions for making higher silanes • SinH2m-1+ SijH2k-1 → Sin+jH2m+2k-2k = 3.32 × 10−9 cm3/s • 321 reactions for making particle (n + j ≥ 11) • SinH2m-1+ SijH2k-1 → particle k = 2.66 × 10-11Tg0.5cm3/s Ref: U. V. Bhandarkar et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 33, 2731 (2000) ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. MAX MIN PLASMA DENSITY and TEMPERATURES • SiH4 • Tgas • [e] • Te • Highest quality nano-crystals are produced with only a few W of power deposition. • Moderate gas heating to 364 K with 90% depletion of SiH4 indicates electron impact dominates dissociation. • Gas heating is dominantly by Franck-Condon processes. • Electron density (4 x 1010 cm-3) is moderated by high rates of diffusion loss but low rates of attachment. • 1 W, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. MAX MIN • H • SiH3 • SiH3– • SiNP • SiH2 SILICON HYDRIDES • Exothermic recombination of H atoms on nano-crystals is believed to be important in annealing. • Negative ions are confined at the peak of the time average plasma potential at the center of the tube. • Silicon nanoparticles (SiNP) grow by successive radical addition, and so accumulate downstream. • 1 W, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. DENSITIES vs POWER • In spite of low rates of attachment, confinement of negative ions produces largely electronegative plasmas. • Depletion of SiH4 and consumption of radicals to form nanoparticles limits increase of SiHx with power. • HPEM, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NANO PARTICLE vs POWER • More silyl radicals are produced by hydrogen abstraction reaction due to increased density of hydrogen radicals at higher power. • As a result, silyl species are more likely to find higher silyl partners to form nanoparticles and saturated silanes. • GLOCHE, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. DENSITIES vs PRESSURE • Electron density decreases with increasing pressure due more efficient power deposition. • Due to longer residence time at higher pressure there is more accumulation of dissociation products. • HPEM, 1 W, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NANO PARTICLE vs PRESSURE • Due to increased residence time at higher pressure silyl density increases but saturates by forming nanoparticles. • Since nanoparticle particle formation is irreversible at low temperature, the density of particles increases in this pressure range, provided sufficient silyl radicals. • GLOCHE, 4 W, Ar/SiH4=95/5, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. DENSITIES vs FLOW RATE • SiH4 dissociation fraction decreases with increasing flow rate at constant power. • Electron density decreases due to larger average density of SiH4. • H, SiH3, and SiH3– increase but saturate due to the shorter residence time at higher flow rate. • HPEM, 1 W, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5 ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NANO PARTICLE vs FLOW RATE • Due to smaller electron density and shorter residence time at higher flow rate, the production of silyl radicals capable of forming nanoparticles is limited. • GLOCHE, 4 W, 2 Torr, Ar/SiH4=95/5 ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. DENSITIES vs SiH4 FRACTION • Plasma density decreases with SiH4 fraction due to electronegativity, while SiH3and SiH3–increase due to larger average density of SiH4. • H increases but quickly saturates due to the smaller electron densityat higher fraction of SiH4. • HPEM, 1 W, 2 Torr, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. NANO PARTICLE vs SIH4 FRACTION • The nanoparticle density increases by increasing SiH4 fraction due to the increasing density of silyl species provided by electron impact and H abstraction. • Due to the smaller electron density at higher SiH4 fraction the nanoparticle density decreases with SiH4 fraction. • GLOCHE, 4 W, 2 Torr, 50 sccm ICOPS_2013
University of Michigan Institute for Plasma Science & Engr. CONCLUDING REMARKS • As power increases, the electron density increases and nanoparticle density increases due to more silyl species produced by H radicals. • As pressure increases, the electron density decreases but the nanoparticle density increases due to the increased concentration and residence time of H, SiH3, and SiH3– • As flow rate increases, the electron density decreases and the nanoparticle density decreases due to the reduced residence time. • As SiH4 fraction increases, the electron density decreases but the nanoparticle density is maximized at optimum fraction of SiH4 due to trade off between electron and silyl production from SiH4. ICOPS_2013