Local bonding arrangements of boron in doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon

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Abstract
Analysis of boron-11 NMR linewidths in films of boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon yields structural information concerning coordination and nearest-neighbor bonding of the dopant atoms. A heavily doped (10 at. %, B) film exhibits two distinct boron sites, both of them being threefold coordinated. A second sample containing 0.7 at.% B shows only one boron site, also threefold coordinated. Annealing studies of the latter sample suggest the formation of B-Si bonds as the hydrogen is driven off. The 11B linewidth of a compensated film (containing 0.7 at. % B and 0.6 at. % P) is comparable to that of the uncompensated sample. 11B spin-spin relaxation (T2) measurements indicate that the boron sites are clustered in all three materials.