Abstract
One of the most enduring concepts in amorphous semiconductors is that of a mobility gap (Mott, 1966). One-electron excitations of the semiconductor having energies in this gap are localized, and hence contribute substantially less to transport than extended excitations lying beyond well-defined mobility edges. The discovery by Spear and LeComber (1975) that the electronic properties of plasma-deposited amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) were sensitive to dopants, and the fabrication only one year later of an a-Si:H solar cell (Carlson and Wronski, 1976) precipitated an enormous worldwide research effort on this material whose themes are largely suggested by the concepts of mobility edges and gaps. In this paper I shall discuss the interrelationships of two of these themes in a-Si:H: the transport of photocarriers, and the energy distribution g(E) of states within the mobility gap.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Carlson, D. E. and Wronski, C. R. (1976). Appl. Phys. Lett. 28, 11.
Cohen, J. D. (1984). Semiconductor and Semimetals, Volume 21C (edited by J. I. Pankove, Academic Press ), 9.
Fritzsche, H. (1984). Semiconductor and Semimetals, Volume 21C (edited by J. I. Pankove, Academic Press ), 309.
Fuhs, W. (1984). FestkOrperprobleme XXIV (edited by P. Grosse, Vieweg ), 133.
Hasegawa, S. and Imai, Y. (1982). Phil. Mag. B 46, 329.
Huang, C.-Y., Guha, S., and Hudgens, S. J. (1983). Phys. Rev. B27, 7460.
Jackson, W. B. (1982). Solid State Comm. 44, 477.
Jackson, W. B., Street, R. A., and Thompson, M. J. (1983). J. Non-cryst. Solids 59 = 60, 497.
Kagawa, T. and Matsumoto, N. (1983). J. Non-cryst. Solids 59 = 60, 465.
Lang, D. V., Cohen, J. D., Harbison, J. P., Chen, M. C., and Sergent, A. M. (1984). J. Non-Cryst. Solids 66, 217.
Orenstein, J., Kastner, M., and Vaninov, V. (1982). Phil. Mag. B 46, 23.
Marshall, J. M., and Main, C. (1983). Phil. Mag. B 47, 471.
Monroe, D. (1985). Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 146.
Mott, N. F. (1966). Phil. Mag. 13, 989.
Mott, N. F. and Davis, E. A. (1979). Electronic Properties of NonCrystalline Materials, Second Edition (Oxford University Press).
Pandya, R., Schiff, E. A., and Conrad, K. A. (1984). J. Non-cryst. Solids 66, 193.
Scher, H. and Montroll, E. W. (1975). Phys. Rev. B 12, 2455
Spear, W. E. and LeComber, P. G. (1975). Solid State Comm. 17, 1193.
Street, R. A. (1982). Appl. Phys. Lett. 41, 1061.
Street, R. A., Biegelsen, D., and Weisfield, R. L. (1984). Phys. Rev. B30, 5861.
Tiedje, T. (1984). Semiconductor and Semimetals, Volume 21C (edited by J. I. Pankove, Academic Press ), 207.
Vaid, J. and Fritzsche, J. (1984). J. Appl. Phys. 55, 440.
Wilson, B. A., Sergent, A. M., Wecht, K. W., Williams, A. J., Kerwin, T. P., Taylor, C. M., and Harbison, J. P. (1984). Phys. Rev. B30, 3320.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schiff, E.A. (1985). Coplanar Transient Photocurrents and the Density of States in a-Si:H. In: Adler, D., Fritzsche, H. (eds) Tetrahedrally-Bonded Amorphous Semiconductors. Institute for Amorphous Studies Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5361-2_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5361-2_29
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-5363-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-5361-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive