Thick amorphous silicon layers suitable for the realization of radiation detectors

摘要

Thick silicon films with good electronic quality have been prepared by glow discharge of He-diluted SiH(sub 4) at a substrate temperature (approximately) 150(degree)C and subsequent annealing at 160(degree)C for about 100 hours. The stress in the films obtained this way decreased to (approximately) 100 MPa compared to the 350 MPa in conventional a-Si:H. The post-annealing helped to reduce the ionized dangling bond density from 2.5 (times) 10(sup 15) cm(sup (minus)3) to 7 (times) 10(sup 14) cm(sup (minus)3) without changing the internal stress. IR spectroscopy and hydrogen effusion measurements implied the existence of microvoids and tiny crystallites in the material showing satisfactory electronic properties. P-I-N diodes for radiation detection applications have been realized out of the new material.