Modification of structure and optical band-gap of nc-Si:H films with ion irradiation

Hydrogenated nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films fabricated by using hot-wire chemical vapor deposition are irradiated at room temperature with 6.0 MeV Xe-ions. The irradiation fluences are 1.0 × 1013, 5.0 × 1013 and 1.0 × 1014 Xe-ions/cm2. The structure and optical band-gap of the irradiated films varying with ion fluence are investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, Raman and UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopes, as well as transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the crystallite size, the crystalline fraction and the optical band-gap decrease continuously with increasing the ion fluence. The crystalline fraction of the films irradiated to the fluences from 0 to 1.0 × 1014 Xe-ions/cm2 decreases from about 65.7% to 2.9% and the optical band-gap decreases from about 2.1 to 1.6 eV. Possible origins of the modification of the nc-Si:H films under 6.0 MeV Xe-ions irradiation are briefly discussed.