Tritium in amorphous silicon

Preliminary results on infrared and luminescence measurements of tritium incorporated amorphous silicon are reported. Tritium is an unstable isotope that readily substitutes hydrogen in the amorphous silicon network. Due to its greater mass, bonded tritium is found to introduce new stretching modes in the infrared spectrum. Inelastic collisions between the beta particles, produced as a result of tritium decay, and the amorphous silicon network, results in the generation of excess electron-hole pairs. Radiative recombination of these carriers is observed.