Unusual features of charge carrier traps energy spectra in silicon organic polymers revealed by advanced TSL

The peculiarities of charge carrier traps’ energy spectra in poly (di-n-hexylsilane) films have been studied by the enhanced fractional thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) in the temperature range of 5-200 K. For the first time, we have shown that the majority of fractional energy values (>80%) is distributed between a set of horizontal energy levels suggesting a discontinuity of the traps’ energy spectrum. These data distinctly differ from the results of earlier studies where a quasilinear dependence of the activation energy on temperature was found. It is shown that the significant width of TSL bands originates from the dispersion of the frequency factor. It is also established that the values obtained for the activation energy correlate well with the frequencies of the symmetric Raman active Ag modes at 268 and 373 cm⁻¹ of the silicon chain, which confirms the suggestion about the hole location on the segments of the silicon organic polymers backbone.