Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The saturated light-induced defect density Nsat in a-Si:H was studied as a function of deposition temperature and of pre-light-soaking anneals. The deposition temperature and annealing affect the microstructure, which we characterize by the Si-H and Si-H2 infrared absorption intensities. We find correlations between Nsat and the initial defect density, the Urbach energy, the hydrogen concentration and the fraction of H in SiH4 groups. Annealing before light-soaking can reduce the saturated defect density substantially.