The observation of microvoids in device quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The size, shape, and number density of microvoids in device quality glow discharge deposited hydrogenated a-Si have been obtained by small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). By combining the SAXS results with infrared measurements, we deduce that the interior surfaces of these microvoids contain ∼4–9 bonded H atoms. We suggest that these H atoms are the clustered H atoms previously detected by multiple quantum NMR.