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Polarized Electroabsorption in Pulse and Continuous Light-Soaked a-Si:H - Structural Change other than Defect Creation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

H. Hata
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1–1–4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305, Japan, hata@etl.go.jp
T. Kamei
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1–1–4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305, Japan, hata@etl.go.jp
H. Okamoto
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560, Japan
A. Matsuda
Affiliation:
Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells Super Laboratory, Electrotechnical Laboratory, 1–1–4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305, Japan, hata@etl.go.jp
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Abstract

Experimental results on structural change other than defect creation upon light-soaking of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are reported. A-Si:H films were light-soaked with laser pulses or with continuous (cw) light to steady-states, and then annealed at 170 °C in vacuum. The changes in electro-absorption (EA) signal, and defect density (Nd) from subgap absorption were measured as functions of light-soaking/annealing time. The results are: (1) EA ratio, which is defined as the ratio of anisotropie to isotropie components in EA signal, increases upon light-soaking with a time constant shorter by almost two orders of magnitude than that for Nd increase, and (2) shows saturation when extensively light-soaked. (3) The saturated values of EA ratio are comparable for both pulsed and cw light-soaking. (4) Both the EA ratio and Nd show recovery to the values in the annealed states. It is suggested that light-soaking causes a structural change in a short time, as manifested by EA ratio, and this changed structure works as the pathway leading to the defect creation. Thermal annealing is also discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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