The feasibility of applying positron annihilation spectroscopy, to the study of hydrogenated amorphous structures that were produced by chemical vapor deposition, was examined. A positron probe, which was sensitive to open-volume formations, was used to characterize the neutral and negatively-charged Si dangling bonds which were typical of undoped and n-doped amorphous hydrogenated material, respectively. By using depth profiling along the growth direction, a difference was observed in the electronic environment of these defects. This then permitted their identification in devices.

An investigation of hydrogenated amorphous Si structures M.P.Petkov, T.Marek, P.Asoka-Kumar, K.G.Lynn, R.S.Crandall, A.H.Mahan: Applied Physics Letters, 1998, 73[1], 99-101