ANNEALING OF INTRINSIC AND PHOTOINDUCED DEFECTS IN HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-SILICON

Electronic defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films, deposited from the glow discharge decomposition of silane in the temperature range between about 225-degrees-C and 325-degree-C and having approximately 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 about 40-degrees-C, and annealed at temperatures greater than 150-degrees-C. We compare the kinetics of this process with the annealing of photo-induced defects in low defect density (less than 10(16)cm-3) films. We also present a quantitative relationship between the relaxation time and the deposition and/or annealing conditions required to produce low defect density material.