Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is regarded as a model system in mechanistic studies of amorphous semiconductor film growth, where the key reactive site is generally considered to be a surface “dangling bond.” Employing an ultrahigh-Q(1010) monolithic optical resonator, the authors probe the creation of dangling-bond defects during growth of a-Si:H from a predominantly SiHx(x=03) radical flux by detecting the associated near-IR subgap absorption with evanescent wave cavity ringdown spectroscopy. They find the apparent dangling-bond creation rate [(5±3)×1012cm2s1] and steady-state surface density [(5±2)×1011cm2] to be considerably lower than expected from dangling-bond-based growth mechanisms.

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