Kinetics Modeling of Gases with Argon Plasma in a Reactor with Hollow Cathode Discharge

25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition / 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 6-10 September 2010, Valencia, Spain; 3017-3020
Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of microcrystalline silicon growing at low temperature recently attracts great attention in the field of solar energy sector, especially for the manufacturing of thin film solar cells. A preliminary study on microcrystalline silicon thin film formation through a mixture of SiH4 and H2 gases with the help of Ar plasma enhancement is conducted in this work. Plasma models are employed to investigate the chemical reaction of gases and plasma inside plasma chambers. The kinetics of gas-phase species in the chamber is considered for understanding the influences of working parameters on the production and consumption of different species, where 17 species and 37 chemical reactions among electron, ions, radicals and neutral species are taken into account. The proposed two-dimensional simulation can deliver important information of the key species near the substrate for growing thin film on the substrate and also elucidate the major mechanisms, which dominate the deposition process on the substrate.