Electronic characterization and effects of light-induced degradation on hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon - art. no. 071920

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon was characterized using the transient photocapacitance (TPC) method. The TPC spectra show these materials to have a mixed-phase nature. At low temperatures, the spectra appeared very microcrystalline, whereas at moderate temperatures they appeared very similar to those for hydrogenated amorphous silicon. These differences are shown to result from the temperature dependence of the minority carrier collection from the nanocrystalline component. The effects of light-induced degradation were also studied. This caused a substantial decrease in minority carrier collection, similar to lowering the temperature of the undegraded sample. However, no concomitant increase in dangling bond defect density was observed.