Characterization of microvoids in device-quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon by small-angle x-ray scattering and infrared measurements

Abstract

The size, shape, and number density of microvoids in device-quality glow discharge deposited hydrogenated a-Si has been obtained by small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). By combining the SAXS results with infrared measurements, we deduce that the interior surfaces of these microvoids are largely unhydrogenated, containing at most 4--9 bonded H atoms. We suggest that these H atoms are the clustered H atoms previously detected by multiple-quantum NMR.