Persistent photoconductivity in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The persistent photoconductivity (PPC) has been observed in undoped, phosphorus-doped, and boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) films. As the annealing temperature is raised for these films the decay of residual conductivity is accelerated and the PPC disappears almost completely after annealing at 500°C. These experimental results rule out the mechanism requiring the phosphorus-boron complexes or the deep defects. The PPC is found to be related with the sample inhomogeneity from the experimental observation that the decay of residual conductivity is closely correlated with the microstructure. A model is proposed to explain the PPC in a-Si: H films.     

Anomalous surface photoconductivity in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The intensity and time dependence of the source-drain photocurrent is measured on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) field effect transistors as a function of gate bias. The photocurrent increases rapidly, becomes weakly dependent on excitation intensity, and exhibits long decay times. A model in which the relaxation of the space charge dominates the photocurrent quantitatively predicts the experimental data. The results show that anomalous surface photoconductivity is often the dominant photoresponse of a-Si:H.     

Pressure dependence of photoconductivity for hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Abstract

Measurements of steady-state photoconductivity for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) have been carried out at pressures up to 14 GPa and at room temperature. The ratio of photoconductivity to darkconductivity [sgrave]p/[sgrave]D decreases with increasing pressure. The activation energy for photoconductivity Ep, which is 0.25 eV at ambient pressure, decreases with increasing pressure at the rate -7 meV/GPa. These resultls are discussed with change in density of states.     

A comparative study of muonium states in crystalline and amorphous hydrogenated silicon

A study of muons implanted into amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si: H), using both transverse and longitudinal field μSR, is presented. Particular use is made of the muon repolarization curves in longitudinal fields. By comparison with the results of similar measurements on polycrystalline silicon, both the diamagnetic and Mu^* fractions are found to be substantially increased. We postulate that weak strained bonds in the amorphous structure are responsible. Little evidence has been found from longitudinal field measurements for isotropic muonium Mu', and a transverse field experiment on a-Si: D suggests that this state might not exist in the amorphous material.     

Density of states and charge distribution in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The local density of states and the charge distribution in a cluster model of hydrogenated amorphous silicon is calculated using the recursion method. The results indicate an average charge transfer of 0.3 electrons from silicon to hydrogen. In addition Si-H dipoles carry small negative charges, which are neutralized by a positively charged bulk of silicon atoms. There are also static spatial charge fluctuations, which are due to the topological disorder.     

Urbach edge and the density of states in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Photoconductivity measurements of the optical absorption edge and time-of-flight measurements of the hole drift mobility, on the same amorphous silicon film, enable us to identify the origin of the Urbach edge in amorphous silicon with the density of states in the valence band tail.     

Microwave detected transient photoconductivity measurements during plasma deposition of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Contactless in-situ measurements of the microwave detected transient photoconductivity during growth of intrinsic a-Si:H films by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition are presented. It is shown, that these measurements can be performed without perturbation of the deposition process. The growth of a-Si:H films at 250° C and 120° C substrate temperature is studied and the information obtained from these measurements is discussed. In-situ characterization during growth of a multilayer structure with films deposited subsequently at 120° C, 250° C and again at 120° C is shown.     

The temperature dependence of optical gap and photoconductivity threshold in undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon films

We report on the temperature dependences of the optical gap E_o and the photoconductivity threshold (?ω)_o for undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. When increasing the temperature, both E_o and (?ω)_o are seen to linearly decrease at respective rates β= 3.5 10^?4 eV K^?1 (temperature range 290 K–460 K) and γ= 5.2 10^?4 eV K^?1 (temperature range 220 K – 360 K). At higher temperatures E_o decreases at the rate β = 14.3 10^?4 ev K^?1. Our results are discussed in terms of conduction in extended states. We show there is no physical reason in relating the temperature dependence of the activation energy and that of the gap as generally assumed. From optical absorption we deduce a minimum metallic conductivity σ_min the value of which agrees with Mott's predictions. On the contrary, σ_min measured from dark conductivity is nearly two orders of magnitude lower. A discussion is proposed infering band bending at the film substrate interface.     

The effect of illumination on dark conductivity and photoconductivity of hydrogenated amorphous silicon layered films

It is established that both the amplitude and temperature dependence of dark conductivity and photoconductivity of preilluminated high-sensitivity layered films of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) prepared by cyclic deposition with layer-by-layer annealing in hydrogen plasma depend on illumination temperature. The relaxation kinetics of the dark conductivity of these films after illumination is shut off is found to be nonmonotonic. The observed effects can be explained by fast and slow changes in the distribution of energy state density below the midgap during and after illumination.     

Experimental elucidation of hydrogen local density of states in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Ultraviolet and X-ray photoemission spectroscopies (UPS and XPS) are used to study the valence band in device quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon films (s-Si:H). Their results are combined to obtain estimated information about the hydrogen local density of states (HLDOS). The monohydride bonding configuration and the occurence of interhydride bonding between H atoms are confirmed by the experimental data.     

Photo-induced defects and photoconductivity in amorphous silicon

An essential connection between photo-induced defects and photoconductivity in amorphous silicon is discussed within the framework of Street's defect creation model. The excitation intensity dependence and doping level dependence of the photo-induced defect density and photoconductivity are derived on the basis of simple rate equation analysis, and compared with experimental data.     

Nanoindentation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Nanoindentation was carried out on thin films of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The composite values of elastic (Young's) modulus, E _c, and hardness, H _c, of the film/substrate system were evaluated from the load–displacement curves using the Oliver–Pharr approach. The film-only parameters were obtained employing the extrapolation of the depth profiles of E _c and H _c. Scanning probe microscopy was employed to image the nanoindenter impressions and to estimate the effect of film roughness and material pile-up on the testing results. It was established that the elastic modulus of thin a-Si:H films is in the range 117–131 GPa, which is lower than for crystalline silicon. In contrast, the values of hardness are in the range 12.2–12.7 GPa, which is comparable to crystalline silicon and higher than for hydrogen-free amorphous silicon. It is suggested that the plastic deformation of a-Si:H proceeds through plastic flow and it is the presence of hydrogen in the amorphous matrix that leads to a higher hardness.     

Nitrogen doping in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

A direct evidence of substitutional doping in ion beam deposited amorphous hydrogenated silicon by nitrogen is presented. From the analysis of infrared (IR) absorption spectra and Si-2p core level shape, measured with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the preferential tendency of nitrogen to go in for three-fold coordination at higher concentration and tetrahedral bonding at lower concentration (⩽4 at %) is established. XPS technique has been used for the first time to deduce the upper limit for substitutional solid solubility of the impurity.     

Extended-state mobility in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

We use the results of time-of-flight experiments in conjunction with recent conclusions about the behavior of the density of localized states below the conduction-band mobility edge to calculate the mobility of electrons moving in extended states in a-Si:H. We find that the extended-state mobility is considerably larger than previous estimates, which were based on the assumption that the exponential behavior responsible for dispersive transport extends all the way to the mobility edge. Using a recent estimate for the density of localized states, we find that the extended state mobility in a-Si:H is about 500 cm²/V-s, a value consistent with the results deduced from high-level injection experiments on p-i-n structures.     

Radiative recombination in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon exhibits efficient optical transitions across a gap larger than that of crystalline Si. Hydrogen passivates the dangling bonds and endows the material with a reduced number of non-radiative recombination centers. A gap widening has been observed in other hydrogenated semiconductors.Research reported herein was supported by the Department of Energy, Division of Solar Technology, under Contract No. EY-76-C-03-1286 and by RCA Laboratories, Princeton, NJ 08540.     

Dynamics of hydrogen in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The problem of hydrogen diffusion in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is studied semiclassically. It is found that the local hydrogen concentration fluctuations-induced extra potential wells, if intense enough, lead to the localized electronic states in a-Si:H. These localized states are metastable. The trapping of electrons and holes in these states leads to the electrical degradation of the material. These states also act as recombination centers for photo-generated carriers (electrons and holes) which in turn may excite a hydrogen atom from a nearby Si-H bond and breaks the weak (strained) Si-Si bond thereby apparently enhancing the hydrogen diffusion and increasing the light-induced dangling bonds.