Discussion on the mechanism of photodoping

The photo-enhanced reaction between metallic silver and vitreous chalcogenides is known as “photodoping”. Based on a series of experimental results, a model for photodoping was proposed. It was assumed in this model, that a junction barrier at the silver-chalcogenide interface worked for separating photocarriers. Holes are captured by metallic silver, and electrons are trapped by active or loosely bound chalcogen atoms after travel toward the interior of a glass layer. The Coulomb attraction field between ions thus formed is large enough to overcome the kinetic barrier in the process of silver diffusion. The square root dependence for the growth of the photodoped depth with exposure time has been explained in the light of this proposed model.