Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:36:56.434Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optoelectronic Properties of Plasma CVD a-Si:H Modified by Filament-Generated Atomic H

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

Y.M. Li
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
I. An
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
M. Gunes
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
R.M. Dawson
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
R.W. Collins
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
C.R. Wronski
Affiliation:
Center for Electronic Materials and Processing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Get access

Abstract

We have studied a-Si:H prepared by alternating plasma deposition with atomic H treatments performed with a heated W filament. Real time spectroscopie ellipsometry provides the evolution of film thickness, optical gap, and a measure of the fraction of Si-Si bonds broken in the near-surface (200 Å) during H-exposure of single films. This information guided us to the desired parameters for the H-treatments. Here, we concentrate on a weak hydrogenation regime characterized by minimal etching, a higher H content by 2 at.%, and a larger optical gap by 0.02 eV for the growth/hydrogenation structures in comparison to continuously deposited control samples. This new material has shown an improvement in the defect density in the light-soaked state in comparison to the control samples. This may result from stabilization of the Si structure due to an increase in the H chemical potential in the a-Si:H.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] See for example, Stafford, B. L. and Sabisky, E. eds. Stability of Amorphous Silicon Alloy Materials and Devices, AIP Conf. Proc. No. 157 (AIP, New York, 1987).Google Scholar
[2] An, I., Li, Y.M., Wronski, C. R., and Collins, R. W., this Volume.Google Scholar
[3] Pankove, J. I., Lampert, M. A., and Tarng, M. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 32, 439 (1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] An, I. and Collins, R. W., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 1904 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] Street, R. A., Phys. Rev. B 43, 2454 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6] Cody, G.D., in Semiconductors and Semimetals, Vol. 21, Part B, edited by Pankove, J.I. (Academic, New York, 1984), p. 11.Google Scholar
[7] Lee, S., Gunes, M., Wronski, C. R., Maley, N., and Bennett, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1578 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Amer, N. M. and Jackson, W. B., in ref. [6], p. 83.Google Scholar
[9] Mott, N. F., Adv. Phys. 16, 49 (1967).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10] Chang, K. J. and Chadi, D. J., Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 937 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Jackson, W. B., Phys. Rev. B 41, 10257 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12] Das, D., Shirai, H., Hanna, J., and Shimizu, I., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 30, L239 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[13] Johnson, N. M., Nebel, C. E., Santos, P. V., Jackson, W. B., Street, R. A., Stevens, K. S., and Walker, J., Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1443 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar