Post-deposition relaxation of electronic defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

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Abstract
Electronically active defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films, deposited by the conventional glow discharge process in the temperature range between about 225 and 325 °C with ∼10–15 at. % hydrogen, undergo a thermally activated relaxation during film deposition. We determine the kinetics of this relaxation process in films with similar hydrogen concentrations deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering at a substrate temperature of ∼40 °C, and annealed at temperatures greater than 150 °C. We present a quantitative relationship between the relaxation time, and the deposition and/or annealing conditions required to produce low defect density material.