Electrically detected magnetic resonance of a-Si:H at low magnetic fields:: the influence of hydrogen on the dangling bond resonance

The hyperfine interaction between the dangling bonds and the hydrogen atoms in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is observed using low-field electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR). In deuterated amorphous silicon (a-Si:D), a peak-to-peak linewidth of 1.4 G is found at 434 MHz. Distant hyperfine involving the background hydrogen present in the material is found to broaden the resonance in a-Si:H. The broadening is proportional to the square-root of the hydrogen concentration and reaches 1 G at 10 at.% hydrogen. The Lineshape is more Lorentz-like in the degraded than in the as-grown or annealed states. An identical EDMR signal intensity Delta sigma/sigma is observed for a-Si:H using spectrometers working at 434 MHz, 9 and 34 GHz, indicating that the signal intensity is independent of the Zeeman splitting. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.