Comment on "Current routes in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon"

0355032 - FZÚ 2011 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Vetushka, Aliaksi - Fejfar, Antonín - Ledinský, Martin - Rezek, Bohuslav - Stuchlík, Jiří - Kočka, Jan
Comment on "Current routes in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon".
Physical Review. B. Roč. 81, č. 23 (2010), 237301/1-237301/4. ISSN 1098-0121
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LC06040; GA AV ČR KAN400100701; GA MŠMT LC510; GA AV ČR(CZ) IAA100100902
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 240826 - PolySiMode
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521
Keywords : conductive atomic force microscopy * oxidation * microcrystalline silicon
Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism
Impact factor: 3.772, year: 2010

We show that local currents observed by the conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) of silicon thin films measured in ambient atmosphere are generally limited by surface oxide, either native or created by the measurement itself in a process of local anodic oxidation. The tip-induced oxidation changes character of the local current maps, either in repeated scans or even in the first scan of a pristine surface. In particular, the preoxidation of the neighboring scan lines leads to the appearance of grain edges as conductive rings, previously interpreted as an evidence of the main transport route at the grain boundaries in microcrystalline silicon. We also show that stripping of the surface oxide by HF etch restores the local currents to the values corresponding to C-AFM done in ultra-high-vacuum on in situ deposited samples.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0193885