IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Thin Films Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoP

Paper TF-MoP18
Characterization of Hydrogenated Amorphous Germanium, a-Ge:H, Thin Films Deposited by a Low Pressure Hollow Cathode Plasma-jet Reactive Sputtering System

Monday, October 29, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Multilayers and Thin Film Characterization Poster Session
Presenter: G. Pribil, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Authors: G. Pribil, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
R.J. Soukup, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
N.J. Ianno, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Z. Hubicka, Academy of Sciences
Correspondent: Click to Email
Hydrogenated amorphous germanium, a-Ge:H, thin films were deposited by means of a low pressure dc hollow cathode plasma-jet system. A high density plasma was excited in a cylindrical nozzle of polycrystalline Ge working as a hollow cathode. An adjustable magnetic field was used for dc hollow cathode discharge stability and for partial confinement of the reactive plasma at the cathode outlet. The germanium nozzles were reactively sputtered in this high density hollow cathode discharge. Only nontoxic gases, argon and hydrogen, were used as a working gas mixture. Different conditions for the dc hollow cathode system were used for deposition. The a-Ge:H thin films were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, Tauc band gap measurements, measurements of conductivity in the light and in the dark, and thickness measurements. The growth rate achieved was in the range of from 2 to 6 µm/h. This system has already been used for the deposition of high quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon, a-SiH, thin films using silicon nozzles. These experiments lead to the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon/germanium alloy films, a-SiGe:H, without the use of silane or germane, using co-sputtering of Si and Ge nozzles in a multi-hollow cathode plasma jet system.