Low-energy argon ion beam treatment of a-Si:HrSi structure

The results of several surface-sensitive techniques applied to the investigation of ion beam-treated a-Si:Hrcrystalline silicon structures, such as deep-level transient spectroscopy DLTS., photoluminescence at 6 K and room temperature, and X-ray diffraction at grazing incidence XRDGI.are presented. Three important results follow from this contribution. . i Two groups of gap states with thermal activation energies of 0.71 and 0.84 eV were identified and found to be sensitive to illumination, this property exhibiting metastable character; we suppose effects similar to those observed in the porous siliconrsilicon and a-Si:Hrsilicon structures. ii. Broader luminescence peaks were identified optically with the energies lying in the range of 0.7 to 0.95 eV, the most distinct one being at 0.85 eV. iii. X-ray reflection at 2u;288 has been found as the reflection suitable for tracing the structural properties of a-Si:H layer. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.