We report on the growth and properties of nanocrystalline silicon:H films deposited using plasma discharge at 45MHz under varying pressure regimes from 50 to 500mTorr. X-ray diffraction data revealed that the primary orientation in these films was ⟨111⟩. The amount of hydrogen dilution needed to crystallize the films was found to be a strong function of deposition pressure, with a significantly higher hydrogen dilution needed to crystallize films at higher pressures. Langmuir probe data showed that these results could be attributed to the increase in density of low-energy hydrogen ions impinging on the substrate at lower pressures.

This thesis is a report of the work done to grow hydrogenated microcrystalline Si materials and p-n junction photovoltaic devices using a 45MHz (VHF) PECVD process. Several parameters such as hydrogen dilution during growth, pressure, growth temperature, and ion bombardment were systematically varied during the growth process to study their effects on crystallinity and device properties. Crystallinity of the films was studied using Raman and x-ray diffraction techniques. It was found that the typical grain size was in the range of 10-25 nm, with larger grain sizes being obtained at higher deposition temperatures. It was also found that as the deposition pressure increased, the crystalline fraction decreased. This behavior is attributed to the decrease of ion bombardment at higher pressures. Optical measurements revealed the films to have absorption characteristics similar to those of c-Si. p+/n/n+ devices were fabricated on stainless steel and semi-transparent Mo/tin oxide substrates. Capacitance spectroscopy was used to estimate total defect and dopant densities in the base layer material. Good quality devices with fill factors approaching ~65% and opencircuit voltages of ~ 0.45 V could be fabricated using this technique. Diffusion length of holes in this material was estimated using quantum efficiency vs. voltage techniques, and it was found to be in the range of 1.2 micrometers.