Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T13:09:32.799Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Defect Properties of Cathode Deposited Glow Discharge Amorphous Silicon Germanium Alloys

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Fan Zhong ,
Chih-Chiang Chen ,
J. David Cohen ,
Paul Wickboldt  and
William Paul
Fan Zhong
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
Chih-Chiang Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
J. David Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403
Paul Wickboldt
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
William Paul
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
Get access

Abstract

We have characterized the deep defect densities and their energy distributions for a series of a-Si1-xGex:H alloys with large Ge content (0.57< × < 1.00) prepared by the cathode deposited glow discharge method. Our results indicate markedly superior properties for these samples. A small Urbach tail slope (about 45meV) was found for all samples in this alloy range. The defect densities were either obtained directly from the drive-level capacitance profiling or deduced from the sub-band-gap optical spectra. Both are substantially lower than the trend line determined from previous studies of a-Si1-xGex:H samples produced by conventional glow discharge and by Photo-CVD methods. However, the relation between the total defect densities and the optical spectra in the cathodic samples obeys the same defect formation model that has been used to successfully predict the defect densities in other types of a-Si1-xGex:H material.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 377: Symposium A – Amorphous Silicon Technology 1995 , 1995 , 553
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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. Aljishi, S., Smith, Z.E., and Wagner, S., in Amorphous Silicon and Related Materials, edited by Fritzsche, H. (World Scientific, Singapore, 1989) pp. 887–938.Google Scholar
2. Matsuura, H., J. Appl. Phys. 64, 1964 (1988).Google Scholar
3. Sella Sala, D., Reita, C., Conte, G., Galluzzi, F., and Grillo, G., J. Appl. Phys. 67, 814 (1990).Google Scholar
4. Hegedus, S.S. and Fagan, E.A., J. Appl. Phys. 71, 5941 (1992).Google Scholar
5. Paul, W., J. Non-Crysl. Solids 137&138, 803 (1991).Google Scholar
6. Unold, T., Cohen, J.D. and Fortmann, C.M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 1714 (1994)Google Scholar
7. Cohen, J.D., NREL Report, 1994.Google Scholar
8. Cohen, J.D. and Lang, D.V., Phys. Rev. B 25, 5312 (1982).Google Scholar
9. Michelson, C.E., Gelatos, A.V. and Cohen, J.D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 47, 412 (1985).Google Scholar
10. Cohen, J.D., Unold, T., Gelatos, A.V., and Fortmann, C.M., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 141, 142 (1992).Google Scholar
11. Zhong, F., Cohen, J.D., Yang, J. and Guha, S., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 336, 493 (1994).Google Scholar
12. Kwon, D., Cohen, J.D., Nelson, B.P. and Iwaniczko, E., in this proceeding.Google Scholar
13. Stutzmann, M., Philos. Mag. B 60, 531 (1989).Google Scholar
14. For the cathode deposited samples we used an optical gap of E04–60meV, the corresponding values of the optical gap for the IEC and USSC samples were estimated from the transient photocurrent spectra.Google Scholar
15. Zhong, F. and Cohen, J.D. (unpublished).Google Scholar
16. Williamson, D.L., Chen, Y., and Jones, S.J., AIP Conf. Proc. 124, 442 (1994).Google Scholar