Effect of hydrogen pressure on the deposition of amorphous silicon films by tetrode RF sputtering

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films were deposited on the surface of quartz substrates using the tetrode RF sputtering technique. The conditions for film deposition were controlled by changing the pressure ratio of hydrogen to argon gas, ξ, in the atmospheric gas. We studied the dependence of the optical and electrical properties of deposited films on ξ, and discuss the complex changes of optical absorption coefficient, α, and electrical conductivity, σ, at $\text{ξ ≧ 20\%}$ in terms of the silicon-hydrogen configuration from the results of infra-red absorption and SEM measurements.