Physical Properties of Two Metastable States of Amorphous Silicon

Abstract

ABSTRACTCharacterization of the two metastable states of amorphous Si produced by ion implantation is extended to include electron paramagnetic resonance, fundamental absorption edge, and density measurements in addition to infrared reflection. It is found that the properties of the two a-Si states are not dependent upon the mass of the incident ion (12C, 29Si, 31p, 120Sn) or upon the anneal temperature for 400°≤TA≤600°C. The dangling-bond density drops about a factor of 2, the absorption coefficient drops by more than a factor of 5, but the density does not change when the a-Si makes a transition between the two states.