Study of the correlation parameters of the surface structure of disordered semiconductors by the two-dimensional DFA and average mutual information methods

The processes of self-organization of the surface structure of hydrogenated amorphous silicon are studied by the methods of fluctuation analysis and average mutual information on the basis of atomic-force-microscopy images of the surface. It is found that all of the structures can be characterized by a correlation vector and represented as a superposition of harmonic components and noise. It is shown that, under variations in the technological parameters of the production of $a$-Si:H films, the correlation properties of their structure vary as well. As the substrate temperature is increased, the formation of structural irregularities becomes less efficient; in this case, the length of the correlation vector and the degree of structural ordering increase. It is shown that the procedure based on the method of fluctuation analysis in combination with the method of average mutual information provides a means for studying the self-organization processes in any structures on different length scales.