Coordination Number of Doped Boron Atoms in Photochemically-Deposited Amorphous Silicon Studied by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

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Abstract
A new insight on the chemical bonding features of doped boron atoms in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has been obtained from a chemical shift in the binding energy of B(1s) core level electrons. It was found that the B(1s) X-ray photoelectron spectrum can be deconvoluted to the two Gaussian peaks at energies of 186.6 and 187.7 eV, which are respectively attributed to electrons emitted from three- and four-fold coordinated boron atoms in silicon matrix. The conductivity is clearly correlated with the concentration of four-fold coordinated boron atoms.