Influence of hydrogen gas dilution on the properties of silicon-doped thin films prepared by the hot-wire plasma-assisted technique

P- and n-type silicon thin films have been produced using a new hot wire plasma assisted deposition process that combines the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and the hot wire techniques. The films were produced in the presence of different hydrogen gas flow and their optoelectronic, structural and compositional properties have been studied. The optimized optoelectronic results achieved for n-type Si:H films are conductivity at room temperature of 9.4(Ωcm)^-1 and optical band gap of 2eV while for p-type SiC:H films these values are 1 × 10^-2(Ωcm)^-1 and 1.6eV, respectively. The films exhibit the required optoelectronic characteristics and compactness for device applications such as solar cells.