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We reveal the mechanism of Ge nanoparticles (NPs) formation on the surface of the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) on ITO and a on boron doped nanocrystalline diamond (BDD). The coating of Ge NPs on a-Si:H was performed by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at temperatures up to 450 °C. The Ge NPs were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The nanocrystalline Ge particles are conglomerates of nanocrystals of size 10-15 nm and quantum dots (QDs) with size below 2 nm embedded in amorphous Ge phase. After coating with Ge NPs the a-Si:H thin films show better adhesion on BDD substrates then on ITO substrates.
Keywords: Ge nanoparticles, a-Si:H, PECVD, MBE© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.