EFFECTS OF ANNEALING ON INFRARED AND THERMAL-EFFUSION SPECTRA OF SPUTTERED A-SI-H ALLOYS

Infrared spectroscopy and thermal effusion have been used to study the nature of the silicon-hydrogen bond in sputtered a-Si:H alloys. The samples were prepared by reactive sputtering under different deposition conditions to produce varying hydrogen contents. The Fourier transform infrared spectra have been analyzed using the simplex algorithm to deconvolute the component peaks. This technique has been applied separately to both the stretching- and bending-mode regions of the infrared absorption spectra. Studies have been made of the effects of annealing on both the infrared and the thermal evolution spectra of hydrogen. The results indicate a redistribution and transformation of different bonding configurations due to annealing. A comparative study is presented of the thermal-effusion spectra for partial and total degassing with the infrared spectra taken before and after each phase of degassing.