Improvement of a -Si sub 1 minus sub x C sub x :H/ a -Si:H p / i interface by hydrogen-plasma flushing studied by photoluminescence

A hydrogen-plasma reactive flush of the glow discharge reactor after boron-doped {ital a}-Si{sub 1{minus}{ital x}}C{sub {ital x}}:H film deposition has been used to reduce boron contamination of subsequently deposited intrinsic {ital a}-Si:H. Photoluminescence studies of {ital p}/{ital i} structures in {ital a}-Si:H show that the hydrogen-plasma process increases both the luminescence efficiency and the activation energy for the competing nonradiative recombination. The process also shifts the emission peak to higher energies by 25 meV.