Hydrogen content evaluation in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon and its amorphous alloys with germanium and carbon

Abstract

We evaluate the hydrogen content in hydrogenated amorphous germanium- and carbon- and also boron- and phosphorus-doped nanocrystalline silicon films obtained by a plasma chemical deposition technique. The films were made of a silicon-containing mixture (silane) heavily diluted with hydrogen and an inert gas (argon), and also methane and germane. In the study we use a combination of Infrared spectroscopy, recoil proton method and X-rays diffraction analysis. The hydrogen content is found to be as great as16 at% for the nanocrystalline films and 24 at% for the alloys. The hydrogen content in the alloys increases with the carbon concentration and decreases with germanium.