Optical properties of intrinsic and doped a-Si:H films grown by d.c. magnetron sputter deposition

Thin films of intrinsic, B- and P-doped a-Si:H were grown by d.c. magnetron sputter deposition. The doping was accomplished by doped targets and co-sputtering Si and B4C. Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used for optical characterization and multiple sample analysis was applied to extract the dielectric functions of intrinsic films with 8–10 at.% hydrogen content, boron doped films with 2.2 at.% hydrogen and phosphorous-doped films with hydrogen contents of 10–15 at.%. One of the phosphorous-doped films was micro-crystalline. Hydrogen content was determined by nuclear reaction analysis. From the obtained optical properties the absorption and the optical gap were studied addressing p–i–n diode applications. The optical gaps for intrinsic a-Si:H material were 1.88±0.03 eV as determined by Tauc analysis and 1.45±0.06 eV by applying Cody analysis.