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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2011
In order to study the dependence of the atomic fine structure and optical band gap of the amorphous alloy on concentration and annealing temperature, thin Si1−XBX alloy films were grown and then annealed at temperatures from 400 to 1050 °C. The films were characterized by Extended Energy Loss Fine Structure spectroscopy (EXELFS), High Resolution transmission Electron Microscopy (HREM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), and light absorption spectro-photometry. It is shown that all the amorphous Si1−XBX alloys are thermally stable (e.g., >1050 °C for x=0.6) as compared to a-Si, and that the optical band gap of the alloys increases gradually with annealing temperatures up to 700 – 900 °C. When annealed at higher temperatures the band gap increased rapidly, corresponding to a phase transformation between two amorphous phases.