Tunnelling process between a semiconductor or a metal and a polymer

The tunnelling lifetime of an electron lying in a p-type orbital localised at a given distance from a semiconductor or a metal is calculated by using Bardeen's method. It is then shown that even in the absence of broad bands, the hole injection process from semiconductors and metals into polymers should follow a Fowler-Nordheim dependence, provided that the current is not bulk-limited. In the semiconductor case, the current can be expressed by a fully analytical formula, and by an approximate one in the case of a metal. It is demonstrated that the effective Fowler-Nordheim barrier is not the mere difference between the metal work function or the semiconductor electron affinity and the HOMO level of the polymer, but a simple function of both levels. Received 6 April 2001 and Received in final form 29 May 2001