On the Role of the Staebler-WronSki Susceptibility in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

Abstract

Photoconductivity decay during monochromatic illumination has been measured on an ensemble of a-Si:H films deposited at different substrate temperatures. Degradation behaviour has been modelled within the framework of the bond-breaking model (dN/dt = Csw np). Simmons and Taylor recombination kinetics has been assumed, taking into account the divalent nature of dangling bonds and their three possible conditions of occupancy. The Staebler-Wronski susceptibility (Csw) has been extracted through a fitting procedure. As a result, a correlation between the obtained Csw and the measured electronic, optical and structural properties of as deposited a-Si:H films can be inferred.