Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2011
Properties of a-Si1-xGex:H films prepared by magnetron sputtering (MG) and glow discharge decomposition (GD) were compared by means of NMR, ESR, IR and hydrogen-evolution measurements. For MG films, the content of dispersed H is roughly independent of x while the content of clustered H decreases with x. For GD films, both the contents of dispersed and clustered H decrease with x. ESR results reveal that most defects in the films are Ge dangling bonds and that the number of dangling bonds per Ge atom is roughly independent of x for MG films whereas it increases largely with x for GD films. Therefore the content of dispersed H has a good correlation with the number of Ge dangling bonds per Ge atom in a-Si1-xGex:H films. The ratio of the intensity of the IR peak at 2100 cm-1 to that at 2000 cm-1 decreases and increases with x, respectively, for MG and GD films, and the ratio of the intensity of the low temperature H evolution peak to that of the high temperature H evolution peak decreases and increases with x, respectively for MG and GD films.