THE EFFECT OF RF POWER ON THE HYDROGEN CONTENT OF SPUTTERED AMORPHOUS-SILICON

Sputtered amorphous silicon thin films were deposited at various RF power in order to investigate the effect of argon ion bombardment on the films optical properties and hydrogen content. Films deposited at a high RF power contain less hydrogen then the low power prepared one. Moreover, the increase in the deposition power reduces the number of hydrogen atoms bonded to single silicon atoms. The effects of RF power are explained in terms of the substrate argon ion bombardment during the film growth.