Boron-doped nc-Si thin films were developed on inexpensive, optically-transparent, and flexible PET-substrates at ambient-temperature (∼30 °C) using (SiH₄ + B₂H₆)-plasma, without additional H₂-dilution, by optimizing the gas pressure in inductively-coupled low-pressure plasma-CVD. An amorphous and monohydride-Si dominated partially-nanocrystalline network was obtained at pressure, p ≤ 15 mTorr. At higher pressure, the local plasma heating on the polymer-substrate by the high-density plasma-precursors and over-abundant atomic-H causes plasma-induced nano-bends, which trigger the stress-induced-crystallization of the network on the flexible substrate even at ambient-temperature. Although, the enhanced atomic-H reactivity on the growing-surface at very-high pressures causes the formation of the polyhydride-dominated defective grain-boundary, which acts as the electron-trapping-center and eventually reduces the dark-conductivity. At an optimum pressure of ∼30 mTorr, the transport of ample SiH₃-radicals and atomic-H from the plasma appears instrumental in producing the p-nc-Si thin film with high-crystallinity (∼77%) in columnar-like growth morphology and adequately wide optical bandgap (∼1.88 eV). Substitution of the Si-atoms, primarily residing in the lattice within the core of Si-nanocrystals, by the electrically-active four-fold-coordinated B-atoms ($B_4^{-}$) generates high-density of free charge-carriers and contributes to high electrical-conductivity (∼1 S cm⁻¹) of the room-temperature grown p-nc-Si thin film on the flexible PET-substrate, which seems suitable for the fabrication of low-cost flexible-electronics, including Si solar-cells.

硼掺杂的 nc-Si 薄膜是在环境温度 (~30 °C) 下使用 (SiH ₄  + B ₂ H ₆ ) 等离子体在廉价、光学透明和柔性 PET 基板上开发的，无需额外的 H ₂-稀释，通过优化感应耦合低压等离子体CVD中的气体压力。在压力 p ≤ 15 mTorr 下获得了无定形和一氢化物-Si 为主的部分纳米晶网络。在较高的压力下，高密度等离子体前体和过量的原子-H 对聚合物基板的局部等离子体加热会导致等离子体诱导的纳米弯曲，从而触发柔性网络上的应力诱导结晶基板即使在环境温度下。虽然，在非常高的压力下，生长表面上增强的原子-H反应性导致形成以多氢化物为主的缺陷晶界，该晶界充当电子俘获中心并最终降低暗电导率。在 ∼30 mTorr 的最佳压力下，大量 SiH ₃的传输来自等离子体的-自由基和原子-H似乎有助于产生具有高结晶度（~77％）的柱状生长形态和足够宽的光学带隙（~1.88 eV）的p -nc-Si薄膜。用电活性四重配位的 B 原子取代主要存在于 Si 纳米晶体核心内的晶格中的 Si 原子（${乙}_4^{-}$) 产生高密度的自由电荷载流子，并有助于在柔性 PET 基板上室温生长的p -nc-Si 薄膜的高电导率 (~1 S cm ^-1 ) ，这似乎适用于制造低成本的柔性电子产品，包括硅太阳能电池。