The effects of hydrogenation upon structural relaxation and defect evolution in amorphous material that had been prepared by ion implantation and evaporation were investigated by using Raman scattering spectroscopy and positron lifetime measurements. It was found that the bond-angle deviation in non-hydrogenated amorphous Si was significantly reduced by 300C annealing in atomic H. This indicated that the reduction in the bond angle of hydrogenated amorphous silicon was not due only to relaxation during deposition but was also due to the post-hydrogenation of non-hydrogenated amorphous material. It was also found that the agglomeration of vacancy-type defects in evaporated amorphous material during 450C annealing was enhanced by post-hydrogenation, whereas no marked enhancement was observed in amorphous material that had been prepared by ion implantation.

Y.Hiroyama, T.Motooka, R.Suzuki, Y.Hirano, F.Sato: Applied Physics Letters, 1996, 68[22], 3126-8