SURFACE POTENTIAL AND PHOTO-ADSORPTION ONTO SEMICONDUCTORS

Abstract— A theory of photo-adsorption onto semiconductors is developed using the kinetic expressions and the relations for steady state carrier concentrations in terms of the quasien Fermi levels. Expressions are derived which emphasize the importance of the surface potential. In particular it is shown that a significant quantity is the ratio of the surface potential to a critical quantity, Y_sc . An expression for the latter is given and it is shown that photoadsorption occurs if the ratio is greater than unity while desorption occurs if the ratio is less than unity. The theory also suggests a useful graphical representation of the effects of impurities and surface potential on adsorption.