STRUCTURAL ORDER IN THIN A-SI-H FILMS

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films were grown in an rf-plas ma deposition system on various substrates. The thickness of the films ranged from 11 to 579 nm. The structural properties of the films were studied by means of ex situ Raman spectroscopy. The width of the tran sverse-optic peak in the Raman spectrum was used as a measure for the amount of bond-angle variation in the films. in contrast to earlier re ports, it is found that bond-angle variation in glow-discharge-deposit ed a-Si:H does not depend on the film thickness, nor on the type of su bstrate material. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.