Structural and photoelectronic properties of a-SiGe:H thin films with varied Ge prepared by PECVD

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe:H) alloy thin films were fabricated by conventional radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) with a gas mixture of silane (SiH₄) and germane (GeH₄). The structural, optical and electrical properties of the films with different gas volume fraction of germane were investigated by Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet and visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and I-V curves, respectively. The amorphous network and structural disorder in the a-SiGe:H thin films were evaluated by Raman spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the Si-H and Ge-H configurations of the films were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. From UV-vis spectroscopy and I-V curves, the optical and electrical properties of the testing films could be deduced with varied germanium. It can be concluded that the structural and photoelectronic properties of a-SiGe:H thin films can be influenced apparently by varing of GeH₄/(SiH₄+ GeH₄) ratio in PECVD process.