Ultrafast charge carrier recombination in a-Si : H and mu c-Si : H

The ultrafast nonradiative bimolecular recombination of charge carriers was investigated in amorphous and microcrystalline silicon. The photoelectric method based on measurement of extraction time of the charge carrier reserv oir in the space-charge-limited photocurrent mode was used. A series of mod els (Auger, diffusion-controlled, charge-carrier-fluctuation dominated) wer e experimentally tested but were not able to explain all features of bimole cular recombination in a-Si:H. The model of diffusion limited recombination taking into account the intrinsic random potential seems most suitable for a description of the observed suppressed bimolecular recombination.