STAEBLER-WRONSKI EFFECT AS A FUNCTION OF THE FERMI-LEVEL POSITION ANDSTRUCTURE OF NONDOPED, AMORPHOUS, HYDRATED SILICON

The photoconductivity degradation rates gamma (sigma(ph)similar to t(- gamma)) of nondoped, amorphous, hydrated silicon films deposited at T- s=300-400 degrees C and subjected to illumination for 5 h at 300 K (li ght source 100 mW/cm(2), lambda<0.9 mu m) were investigated. It was sh own that the degradation rate gamma depends on the preillumination pos ition of the Fermi level epsilon(c)-epsilon(F) and often is not direct ly related to the hydrogen content in the film. It was found that ther e are correlations between the value of gamma and the bonds in the sil icon-hydrogen subsystem [isolated SiH and SiH2 complexes, clusters (Si H)(n), and chains (SiH2)(n)]. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.