Effect of annealing and substrate temperature on structural and optoelectronic properties of a-SiGe:H thin films

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Hydrogenated a-Si 0.47 Ge 0.53 thin films were prepared at 200 and 250C by the glow-discharge deposition technique from SiH 4 and GeH 4 gases. The Structural changes of the films were characterized using IR, XRD and SEM after annealing at 300C for 8h. Remarkable structural degradation was observed upon annealing because of the formation of hydrogen bubbles which give rise to surface bumps. The influence of annealing on the electrical conductivity and optical energy gap of a-Si 0.47 Ge 0.53 :H thin films was discussed. The results revealed that the electrical conductivity is increased with increasing the annealing temperatures and /or annealing time, while optical energy gap is decreased. On the other hand it was found that the activation energy of crystallization deduced from the annealing time dependence of the conductivity using Avrami's equation is structural dependent.