Abstract: A semiconductor thin film including a well layer is laminated on a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor thin film is cleaved, and a cleavage plane of the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor thin film, which is obtained by the cleaving, is exposed to an atmosphere produced by decomposition of a gas containing N-atoms under the presence of a heated catalytic substance, thereby a surface layer of the cleavage plane is removed and a nitride layer is formed on the surface. Subsequently, a dielectric film is formed on the cleavage plane. According to the above technique, a natural oxide film formed on the cleavage plane can be removed and also a protective film can be formed by using a catalytic CVD apparatus.

Abstract: A semiconductor thin film including a well layer is laminated on a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor thin film is cleaved, and a cleavage plane of the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor thin film, which is obtained by the cleaving, is exposed to an atmosphere produced by decomposition of a gas containing N-atoms under the presence of a heated catalytic substance, thereby a surface layer of the cleavage plane is removed and a nitride layer is formed on the surface. Subsequently, a dielectric film is formed on the cleavage plane.

Abstract: A thin microcrystalline silicon semiconductor film suitable for use as an intrinsic semiconductor layer in an amorphous silicon solar cell or the like. The thin microcrystalline silicon semiconductor film comprises an amorphous phase with crystallites contained therein in the form of a prismatic or conical crystallite aggregate phase. Additional crystallites may be dispersed as individual crystallites in the amorphous phase. In the thin film, the crystalline fraction may preferably range from 5 to 80% and the crystallite size may preferably range from 2 to 1,000 nm. This thin film can be formed by first forming an initial film to a thickness in a range of from 2 nm to 100 nm at a deposition rate of from 0.01 nm/sec to 0.1 nm/sec on a substrate and then forming a principal film at a deposition rate of from 0.1 nm/sec to 2 nm/sec, for example, in accordance with RF plasma CVD.