Radiation-induced defects in a-Si:H by 1.5 MeV He4 particles studied by photoconductivity and photothermal deflection spectroscopy

We report radiation effects on intrinsic a-Si:H thin films subjected to a 1.5 MeV He4 beam for particle fluences up to 1016 cm−2. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy is used to obtain information on the sub-gap density of states. Photoconductivity detects changes in the μτ-product of the electrons. Steady-state photocarrier grating technique is used for measuring the ambipolar diffusion length and estimating the hole μτ-product. The 1.5 MeV He4 beam radiation results in pronounced changes in the a-Si:H absorption spectrum. Optical absorption due to deep defects increases with particle fluence by more than one order of magnitude. Electronic transport properties consistently degrade with increasing particle fluence and correlate with the density of radiation-induced defects.