ABSTRACTThe electronic transport properties of high deposition rate a-Si:H films prepared by HWCVD have been investigated in detail by employing the microwave photomixing technique. The high deposition rates (up to 1 µm/min.) were achieved by adding a second filament, increasing deposition pressure, silane flow rate, and decreasing filament-to-substrate distance. The effect of the deposition rate on the resultant film properties with respect to the substrate temperature, deposition pressure and silane flow rate was studied. It was found that the film transport properties do not change monotonically with increasing deposition rate. The photoconductivity peaks at ∼70-90 Å/s, where both the drift mobility and lifetime peak, consistent with the deposition rate dependence of the range and depth of the potential fluctuations. High quality, such as a photoconductivity-to-dark-conductivity ratio of ∼105 and nearly constant low charged defect density, can be maintained at deposition rates up to ∼150 Å/s, beyond which the film properties deteriorate rapidly as a result of an enhanced effect of the long-range potential fluctuations due to a considerable increase in the concentration of the charged defects. Our present results indicate that medium silane flow rate, low pressure, and higher substrate temperature are generally required to maintain high quality films at high deposition rates.
