Electrical properties of amorphous and nanocrystalline hydrogenated silicon films obtained by impedance spectroscopy

Nanocrystalline hydrogenated silicon (nc-Si:H) thin films are generally accepted to be a two phase material-Si crystalline and Si:H amorphous. This work reports the use of impedance spectroscopy to determine the amorphous and crystalline electrical conductivity of a/nc-Si:H films obtained by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. Different relaxation time or time constants are detected, if the film is composed by inhomogeneous material, by measuring ac impedance in a wide range of frequencies. Relating the conduction mechanism of the film to a series of two RC circuits constituted by a resistance and a capacitor in parallel, we may determine distinct ac conductivities and correlate that to the crystalline, amorphous and interface components. The amorphous films analysed exhibit one ac conductivity component while for nanocrystalline films two ac conductivity components are observed. The average value of ac conductivities is in agreement with that of dc conductivity.