Preparation of stable and photoconductive hydrogenated amorphous silicon from a Xe-diluted silane plasma

Abstract

Photoconductive and stable hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films, prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using a Xe-silane mixture at a substrate temperature of 250 °C, did not show any photo-induced degradation of the photoconductivity after 104 min light soaking (air mass-1, 100 mW/cm2). The network structure of these films is inhomogeneous and includes a large amount of clustered hydrogen as indicated by the low-temperature thermal effusion and the large, broad component in the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum.