Films minces à base de Si nanostructuré pour des cellules ...

Chapter 2
Experimental techniques and analytical
methods
tel-00916300, version 1 - 10 Dec 2013
The synthesis of Si nanostructures in various dielectric matrices has been successfully
demonstrated by many research groups using a variety of techniques such as
ion implantation, PECVD, sputtering, laser ablation etc., as mentioned in chapter
1. Among these, our group (NIMPH team) specializes in RF magnetron sputtering.
Multilayers of SRSO alternated by their oxide or their nitride are our prime
subjects of investigation. But before proceeding to the multilayers, it is important
to choose the growth parameters of each sublayers. Hence, single layers of
these materials (SRSO, SiN x and SiO 2 ) were grown to extract informations such
as composition, deposition rate, structural and optical properties depending on the
fabrication conditions. This chapter details the principle, description and elaboration
of the sputtering technique, and the various characterization tools used for
investigation.
2.1 Thin lm fabrication
The fabrication of thin lms using Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) can be broadly
categorized into two groups:
1) thermal evaporation, in which the target material placed in a vacuum chamber
boils, evaporates and nally condenses to deposit a thin lm, and
2) sputtering.
The forthcoming discussions are restricted to the latter with more emphasis on
magnetron sputtering which is one of the variant techniques that work under the
principle of sputtering.
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