The structural, optical and electrical properties of the hydrogenated amorphous silicon-nitrogen alloy semiconductors prepared by the glow discharge decomposition of silane-ammonia mixtures are investigated.
As the compositional ratio $x(a-SiN_x:H)$ is increased from 0 to 0.56, the optical band gap increases from 1.77eV to 2.04eV and the dark conductivity increases slightly, and then decreases gradually. From the electrical properties of the doped $a-SiN_x:H$ films, it is found that the phosphorus can act as the effective substitutional donors but the boron cannot as the acceptors.
