Experimental studies were made of the properties of hydrogenated amorphous material which had been prepared by alternating thermal chemical vapor deposition from disilane with H plasma treatment. It was found that H-plasma treatment produced a significant structural relaxation of the Si network, in addition to the passivation of Si dangling bonds. The effective thickness of this passivated layer was estimated to be 22nm. Neutral Si dangling bond states and negatively charged dangling bond-like defect states existed in undoped samples of the alternately treated material. Light-induced changes in the defect density were small, and the effects of light-induced defects upon the transport properties were also small. The Gaussian distribution of the annealing energies of the light-induced defects shifted to higher energy, as compared with that of ordinary samples.

I.Sakata, M.Yamanaka, T.Sekigawa, Y.Hayashi: Solid State Phenomena, 1995, 44-46, 127-34