Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
Spring 5-31-1987
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering - (M.S.)
Department
Electrical Engineering
First Advisor
Kenneth Sohn
Second Advisor
Roy H. Cornely
Third Advisor
W. H. Warren Ball
Abstract
The effect of the amorphous and glassy structure of amorphous germanium films on their electrical characteristics was investigated experimentally. The films were deposited onto silicon substrates using a modified MRC 8800 triode sputtering system. The Poole-Frenkel and Schottky mechanisms are discussed in detail and the shortcomings of the accepted picture of the former in amorphous materials are dealt with. It was concluded on the basis available evidence that the current flow in amorphous germanium favors the Poole-Frenkel mechanism at high fields.
Amorphous hydrogenated germanium films which were deposited by bias sputtering were characterized by measuring the infrared absorption. The films have absorption peaks,as expected, at 1950 cm-1 and at 570 cm-1 due to GeH2 bonding and at 1880 cm-1 due to GeH2 bonding.
A method was described for determining the optical constants of a thin film deposited on a nonabsorbing window using a single set of transmittances over an absorption band. The method depends on the fact that the phase shift of the transmitted radiation can be determined from the
transmittance by a Kramers-Kronig transform. The transmittance data of a-Ge:H and sputtered silicon nitride films were used to calculate their optical constants by this method. In a-Ge:H films, the value of the calculated refractive index in the k=0 region was not reasonable. However, for Si3N4 films, the calculated absorption coefficient was consistent with the experimental results.
Recommended Citation
Cho, Hanjin, "Properties of sputtered a-Ge and a-Ge : H thin films" (1987). Theses. 1386.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/1386
