Multi-band electron paramagnetic resonance study of the defects in microcrystalline silicon

Abstract We report electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies in dangling bond (DB) defects in the hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) film prepared by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), unhydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) film prepared by RF sputtering, and μc-Si embedded in SiO2 film formed by co-sputtering followed by annealing. Multi-band EPR measurements showed that their line widths originate primarily from a distribution of the g-values. We have detected a signal at g=2.006 in the microcrystalline fraction of the μc-Si, μc-Si:H and μc-Si embedded SiO2 films. The signal has a greater width than the DB signal in amorphous silicon (a-Si), indicating a larger distribution of g-values of the defects in the microcrystalline material. The DB signal in the μc-Si embedded in SiO2 was reproduced by the computer simulation taking into account the distribution of the g-values.