Guiding Principle in the Preparation of High-Photosensitive Hydrogenated Amorphous Si–Ge Alloys from Glow-Discharge Plasma

Abstract
A guiding principle has been proposed for the preparation of high-photosensitive hydrogenated amorphous Si–Ge alloys (a-SiGe:H) via the plasma chemical-vapor-deposition technique. According to this principle, plasma parameters in a diode-type reactor were systematically controlled, resulting in high-quality a-SiGe:H films in the optical-gap range between 1.4 and 1.8 eV. Photoconductivity-to-dark-conductivity ratio of the best-designed a-SiGe:H with 1.45 eV optical gap was found to reach 104.