Growth morphology and defects in plasma-deposited a-Si:H films

Abstract Structural studies of plasma-deposited a-Si:H are presented that show that a major class of defect is an anisotropic density fluctuation. Studies of the hydrogen environment suggest that an inhomogeneous hydrogen distribution is associated with these fluctuations. From considerations of the deposition chemistry and nucleation theory a model is proposed to describe the film growth process and its relationship to defects.

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