Effect of charge on bond strength in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

We have studied the effect of excess charge on the bond strength in the silanes SiH₄ and Si₂H₆ to assess whether charge trapping in a solid-state lattice might promote the technologically important photodegradation of amorphous silicon alloys (the Staebler-Wronski effect). The calculations indicate that both positive and negative charges reduce the strength of Si? H and Si? Si bonds considerably, to the point where they may be broken easily by visible or even infrared light. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.