Improvement of a–Si1−xCx: H/a–Si: H p/i interface by hydrogen–plasma flushing studied by photoluminescence

A hydrogen–plasma reactive flush of the glow discharge reactor after boron–doped a–Si1−xCx : H film deposition has been used to reduce boron contamination of subsequently deposited intrinsic a–Si:H. Photoluminescence studies of p/i structures in a–Si: H show that the hydrogen–plasma process increases both the luminescence efficiency and the activation energy for the competing nonradiative recombination. The process also shifts the emission peak to higher energies by 25 meV.