Optical determination of the mass density of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon layers with different hydrogen contents

We have measured the density of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon films using an optical method. The mass density decreases with increasing hydrogen content, consistent with a hydrogenated di-vacancy model that fits the data for amorphous silicon. Material produced by hot wire assisted chemical vapour deposition, with low hydrogen content, has a higher density and is structurally different from glow discharge material with hydrogen content around 10 at.%. The lower density microcrystalline silicon seems to be porous.