Hydrogen incorporation in silicon layers prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition using silane dilution by hydrogen has been studied by infrared spectroscopy ͑IR͒ and elastic recoil detection analysis ͑ERDA͒. The large range of silane dilution investigated can be divided into an amorphous and a microcrystalline zone. These two zones are separated by a narrow transition zone at a dilution level of 7.5%; here, the structure of the material cannot be clearly identified. The films in/near the amorphous/microcrystalline transition zone show a considerably enhanced hydrogen incorporation. Moreover, comparison of IR and ERDA and film stress measurements suggests that these layers contain a substantial amount of molecular hydrogen probably trapped in microvoids. In this particular case the determination of the total H content by IR spectroscopy leads to substantial errors. At silane concentrations below 6%, the hydrogen content decreases sharply and the material becomes progressively microcrystalline. The features observed in the IR-absorption modes can be clearly assigned to mono-and/or dihydride bonds on ͑100͒ and ͑111͒ surfaces in silicon crystallites. The measurements presented here constitute a further indication for the validity of the proportionality constant of Shanks et al. ͓Phys. Status Solidi B 110, 43 ͑1980͔͒, generally used to estimate the hydrogen content in ''conventional'' amorphous silicon films from IR spectroscopy; additionally, they indicate that this proportionality constant is also valid for the microcrystalline samples.

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon has been prepared at a plasma excitation frequency in the very-high-frequency band at 70 MHz with the glow discharge technique at substrate temperatures between 280 and 50 °C. The structural properties have been studied using hydrogen evolution, elastic recoil detection analysis, and infrared spectroscopy. The films were further characterized by dark and photoconductivity and by photothermal deflection spectroscopy. With respect to films prepared at the conventional frequency of 13.56 MHz considerable differences concerning the electronic and structural properties are observed as the substrate temperature is decreased from 280 to 50 °C. Down to a substrate temperature of 150 °C the electronic film properties change only a little and the total hydrogen content cH and the degree of microstructure that can be directly correlated to cH increase only moderately. Below 150 °C the electronic properties deteriorate in the usual manner but still the total hydrogen content does not exceed 21 at. % even at a substrate temperature of 50 °C. It is argued that the influence of the higher excitation frequency on the plasma and on the growth kinetics plays a key role in this context by allowing a highly effective dissociation of the process gas with the maximum ion energies remaining at low levels. It is concluded that deposition processes at higher excitation frequencies can have important technological implications by allowing a decrease of the deposition temperature without losses in the material quality.

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