Hindering the light-induced instability in a-Si:H by hydrogen clusters

Abstract The effects of hydrogen clusters, relating to the hydrogen effusion peak around 350°C, on the light-induced stability in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) have been investigated. The hydrogen clusters were removed by increasing the temperature up to 400°C with an increase rate of 12°C/min. After removing the hydrogen clusters, a reduction in hydrogen content and weak Si–Si bond density was observed but the light-induced instability increased by a factor of 4 for the completely degraded state. The increase of the instability is consistent with a model of suppression of the long-range motion of atomic hydrogen by the hydrogen clusters.