Turkish Journal of Physics
Abstract
The photoconductivity dependences on temperature and illumination intensity were investigated for thin films of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) grown by very-high-frequency, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The nanocrystalline phase was achieved by heavy hydrogen dilution of silane (SiH_4). We find that the activation energy of the photoconductivity is sensitive to the incident illumination intensity for illumination intensities below 6 mW/cm^2. The photocurrent follows a power-law dependence on illumination intensity (I_{ph}\propto F^{gamma}), with gamma ranging from 0.36 to 0.83. The illumination dependence of the photocurrent suggests 2 different recombination mechanisms depending on temperature. In the lower temperature regime (300-340 K), recombination appears to be dominated by a linear (monomolecular) process, while at higher temperatures (350-400 K), it is likely dominated by a sublinear (bimolecular) process.
DOI
10.3906/fiz-1301-12
Keywords
Photoconductivity, photovoltaics, nanocrystalline silicon, recombination
First Page
283
Last Page
288
Recommended Citation
SALEH, Z. M, KMAIL, S. M, ASSAF, S. F, & QASRAWI, A. F (2013). Recombination mechanisms in hydrogenated silicon nanocrystalline thin films. Turkish Journal of Physics 37 (3): 283-288. https://doi.org/10.3906/fiz-1301-12
