ESR observations of Ar+-irradiated a-Si1-xCx:H films deposited on quartz substrates

Ar+-irradiated a-Si1-xCx:H films prepared by magnetron sputtering have been investigated by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. ESR signals with g1, g2 and g3 values of 2.0020, 2.0017 and 2.0006 respectively are observed for all films deposited on T-1030 quartz substrates, while the resonance at g = 2.0050 due to the silicon dangling bonds is predominant for those on ES quartz substrates. The appearance of an ESR signal resembling the E' centre in quartz is found to be strongly related to the nature of the substrate. Taking into consideration the fact that the T-1030 substrate contains larger quantities of impurities such as aluminium, boron, iron and copper than the ES substrate, it is concluded that, on Ar+-irradiation, the formation of paramagnetic defects such as the E' centre and/or silicon dangling bonds depends on the amount of impurities in the substrate. (author)