Measurement and analysis of photocurrent transient characteristics for hydrogenated amorphous-silicon photodiodes

The relations between the photocurrent transient after the end of steady-state illumination for hydrogenated amorphous silicon photodiodes and the related film properties for undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon prepared by mercury-sensitized photochemical vapor deposition are investigated. The photocurrent transient characteristic indicates significant correlations with the film properties, such as electron drift mobility ( mu /sub d/), silicon dangling bond density (N/sub s/), a minimum in the density of states near the Fermi level (N/sub min/), and space-charge density (N/sub i/). The photocurrent transient decay decreases with increasing mu /sub d/ and with decreasing N/sub s/, M/sub min/, and N/sub i/. This result was confirmed by a model analysis.<
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