Silicon hydrogenated amorphous

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon has shown promise in producing economical cells for converting solar energy into electricity. 

Street, R.A. (1991) Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). 

Methods of Deposition of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon for Device Applications... 

Material Aspects of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon 1.1.2.1. Atomic Structure... 

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon is not a homogeneous material. Its structure is thought to consist of voids embedded in an amorphous matrix [62, 63]. The size and number density of the voids depend on the deposition conditions. Poor-quality material can have a void fraction around 20%, while device quality a-Si H has been shown to contain fewer voids, 1%. with a diameter of 10 A [64-66]. The surfaces of the voids may be partly covered with hydrogen atoms [62, 67],... 

Over the past decades the term device quality has come to refer to intrinsic PECVD hydrogenated amorphous silicon that has optimum properties for application in a certain device. Of course, depending on the type of device, different optimum values are required nevertheless the properties as listed in Table I are generally accepted, e.g. [6, 11]. Many of these properties are interrelated, which has to borne in mind when attempting to optimize only one of them. 

Selected Properties of Device Quality Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Films... 

---