Electron drift mobility in amorphous Si: H

Electronic structure and localized states in amorphous Si and hydrogenated amorphous Si

Calculated DOS of a-Si:H close to the band gap for different H concentrations in the case of (a) thermodynamic and (b) kinetic H addition.

Photo-excited hot carrier dynamics in hydrogenated amorphous silicon imaged by 4D electron microscopy

Charge carrier dynamics in amorphous semiconductors has been a topic of intense research that has been propelled by modern applications in thin-film solar cells, transistors and optical sensors. Charge transport in these materials differs fundamentally from that in crystalline semiconductors owing to the lack of long-range order and high defect density. Despite the existence of well-established experimental techniques such as photoconductivity time-of-flight and ultrafast optical measurements, many aspects of the dynamics of photo-excited charge carriers in amorphous semiconductors remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate direct imaging of carrier dynamics in space and time after photo-excitation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) by scanning ultrafast electron microscopy (SUEM). We observe an unexpected regime of fast diffusion immediately after photoexcitation, together with spontaneous electron-hole separation and charge trapping induced by the atomic disorder. Our findings demonstrate the rich dynamics of hot carrier transport in amorphous semiconductors that can be revealed by direct imaging based on SUEM.

Control of the Electron and Hole Drift mobilities in Plasma Deposited a-Si:H

The ‘time-of-flight’ technique measured electron and hole drift mobilities are shown to be independent of deposition parameters in capacitively coupled, diode type RF-PECVD a-Si:H. However, the carrier mobilities can be varied by orders of magnitude by changing the bias applied to the mesh type controlling electrode in a triode type reactor. The room temperature hole drift mobility increases to 10−1cm2/Vs when an appropriate bias is applied to the mesh providing optimum energy ion stimulation of the film growth surface during deposition. Analysis of the field and temperature dependences of the drift mobilities shows that in the best specimens the conduction (valence) band tail density of states are approximately exponential with a reciprocal slope of lOMeV (25MeV).