Electronic and Optical Properties of A—(Si, Ge):H Alloys

Abstract

AbstractWe describe the preparation and electronic and optical properties of amorphous (Si, Ge) alloys. A—(Si, Ge):H alloys were prepared by glow discharge decomposition of SiH4 and GeH4. The bandgap was varied between 1.78 and 1.42 eV by changing the GeH4:SiH4 ratio in the gas phase. We find a distinct influence of growth temperature on electronic properties. Films grown at low temperatures (200–250C) tendto have much lower photo conductivity than films grown at higher temperatures (300–325C). The electron (μ τ) products of high temperature films are general> 1X10–7 cm2/V. We also obtain very sharp valence band tails in a—(Si, Ge):H alloys, with slopes of ∼ 40 meV. The hole (μ τ) product is generally ∼1–2X10–8 cm2/V. All these properties suffer a catastrophic decline when bandgap is reduced below about 1.5 eV.