An investigation of the diffusion and solubility of Sn in hydrogenated amorphous films was carried out at temperatures ranging from 290 to 525C. This made it possible to determine suitable conditions for diffusion doping. Such diffusion was used to prepare hydrogenated amorphous films which were doped with this metal, and a study was made of their dark conductivity and photoconductivity. It was noted that diffusion doping with metals gave rise to activation energies, for electrical conduction, which were as high as 1.4eV. That is, the activation energy exceeded 50% of the band gap; atypical behavior for an intrinsic material. Cyclic heating of the doped films, at temperatures ranging from 20 to 200C, resulted in a gradual recovery of the electrical properties which they had had in the original state. This recovery resembled the precipitation of a supersaturated solid solution in crystals.

M.S.Ablova, G.S.Kulikov, S.K.Persheev, K.K.Khodzhaev: Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, 1990, 24[11], 1943-7 (Soviet Physics - Semiconductors, 1990, 24[11], 1208-11)