Analysis of amorphous-nanocrystalline silicon thin films by time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis and high-resolution electron microscopy

► Amorphous-nanocrystalline silicon thin films were prepared by PECVD. ► Silicon nanocrystalls embeded in amorphous silicon matrix. ► The in-depth distribution of hydrogen atoms was estimated by TOF-ERDA. ► Non uniform distribution of hydrogen across the depth with maximum close to a-Si:H/a-nc-Si:H interface.