Morphological characteristics and optical properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films were prepared by radio frequency (RF) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) technique with silane (SiH[Formula: see text] as reactive gas. The influence of process parameters on the morphological characteristics and optical properties of a-Si:H thin films were systematically investigated. When the RF power density was taken as the only variable, it firstly improves the smoothness of the surface with increasing the RF power density below the value of 0.17 W/cm2, and then exhibits an obvious degradation at further power density. The refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical energy gap initially increase and reach a maximum at 0.17 W/cm2, followed by a significant decrease with further RF power density. When the RF power density was taken as the only variable, the surface of a-Si:H thin films become smoother by increasing the reaction pressure in the investigated range (from 50 Pa to 140 Pa), and the refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical energy gap increase with increasing of reaction pressure. The effect of RF power density and the reaction pressure on the morphological characteristics and optical properties of a-Si:H thin films was obtained, contributing to the further studies of the performance and applications of a-Si:H thin films.