Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
We report on that plasma damage on SnO2 can be suppressed by using surface termination by chlorine. It was found that the darkening of SnO2 is decreased and a wider gap p-a-Si material is obtained by using SiH2Cl2 especially at the higher reaction pressure and at the lower substrate temperature. The suppression of darkening of SnO2 and wide optical gap is correlated to chlorine contents in the film. It is demonstrated that SiH2Cl2 is also beneficial for boron-doped material, indicating a suitable material for a window layer of solar cells.