High Field Electron Drift in a-Si:H

Abstract

We have measured the electron drift mobility in a-Si:H at high electric fields (E ≤ 3.6 x 105 V%cm). The a-Si:Hpin structure was prepared at Palaiseau, and incorporated a thickp+ layer to retard high field breakdown. The drift mobility was obtained from transient photocurrent measurements from 1 ns - 1 ms following a laser pulse. Mobility increases as large as a factor of 30 were observed; at 77 K the high field mobility de¬pended exponentially upon field (exp(E/Eu), where E u= 1.1 x 105 V%cm). The same field dependence was observed in the time range 10 ns – 1 μs, indicating that the dispersion parameter change with field was negligible. This latter result appears to exclude hopping in the exponential conduction bandtail as the fundamental transport mechanism in a-Si:H above 77 K; alternate models are briefly discussed.