Structural and optical properties modification of a-SiC:H by Ga+ ion implantation

Thin films (dB nm)of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H),deposited by RF reactive magnetron sputtering,have been ion implanted with high doses (D=1E16¿1E17cm^2) of Ga+ as the implant species.The increased disorder and additional structural modi .cation of a-SiC:H,induced by the implantation of Ga+ results in a considerable change of the optical properties, best manifested by a significant shift of the optical absorption edge to lower photon energies in the results obtained by optical transmission and re .ection measurements and as derived from photo-thermal-deflection spectroscopy results.This shift may be attributed both to additional defect introduction and to accompanying structural modi .cation effects,as confirmed by optical absorption measurements in the infra-red region and by Raman spectroscopy results.