THE INFLUENCE OF HYDROGEN DILUTION ON THE OPTOELECTRONIC AND STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES OF HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-SILICON CARBIDE FILMS

Amorphous silicon carbide films were deposited by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique in SiH4-CH4-H-2 gas mixtures and the effect of hydrogen dilution on the optoelectronic properties investigated using photothermal deflection spectroscopy, photoconductivity and dark electrical conductivity, photoluminescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Large H-2 dilution leads to materials of improved quality whose E(g) is about 2.0 eV. The materials were also incorporated into a solar cell device structure to confirm our conclusions.