TOWARDS THE THEORY OF METAL-POLYMER CONTACT

The band structure and the electric field distribution at the metal - polymer junction are considered. In contrast to a usual picture of band bending near the contact for common semiconductors the branching of bands takes place and inside the former gap the new allowed energy bands appear. The Fermi-level of the metal always lies inside the energy gap of the polymer independent on the value and sign of the voltage applied across the contact. Single-electron (polarons) majority carriers created by the junction injection or by the interband absorption are affected by an effective force, which pulls them to the contact interface. The single-electron minority carriers in the presence of the superstructure of solitons (bipolarons) do reverse their charge by recombining with two solitons (one bipolaron). The depletion layer forms via conversion of bipolarons to polarons. The possible influence of the band branching on the contact barrier and optical properties are discussed.