Properties of amorphous Si:H films prepared by Dual Ion Beam Sputtering

The Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) and the Dual Ion Beam Sputtering (DIBS) allow independent control of the deposition kinetics and the hydrogenation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) films. This makes it possible to investigate the correlations between the disorder in the amorphous matrix and the optical parameters, such as optical gap and Urbach energy. Data were taken for samples grown at different substrate temperatures, having different hydrogen content, or presenting damage induced by argon bombardment. In addition, an experimental evaluation of the shift in optical gap due to the alloying with H was carried out and gave 6.63 x 1O-3eV/at %.