SEMIQUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR STUDYING DISORDER AND HYDROGENATION IN HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-SILICON USING AUGER LINESHAPE ANALYSIS

Simple methods have been developed to enable the X-ray excited silicon L2,3VV, and the experimentally more difficult L1L2,3V, Auger spectra to be treated routinely using numerical debroadening and deconvolution to obtain an indication of the valence band transition densities of s tates for the surface. A method based on the simplex algorithm has the n been applied to enable both the SiL2,3VV and SiL1L2,3 spectra to be decomposed (decoupled) into their component (pp-, sp- ss-like) peaks. Changes in these components have been compared before and after disord ering and hydrogenation of the surface to quantitatively probe the eff ect of these treatments on the surface valence band densities of state s. It is shown that both the L2,3VV and L1L2,3V lines give a simple se mi-quantitative method for monitoring hydrogen incorporation in hydrog enated amorphous silicon. Examples of these methods applied to artific ially and naturally hydrogenated amorphous silicon surfaces are presen ted to illustrate their usefulness for studying materials fabricated f or use in solar cells.