Band Tailing and Transport in a-SiGe:H-Alloys

Abstract

ABSTRACTOptical and transport studies of both cb- and vb-tail states in a-Si1−xGex:H such as subband absorption (PDS), instationary photocurrent experiments (TOF, PTS) for electrons and holes, Modulated Photocurrent Spectroscopy (MPS), and Raman scattering have been performed. The main consequences of Ge-alloying into the a-Si:H network are i) an increase in cb-tail state density at the conduction band edge and in the exponential cb- tail even for small x (O<x<0.3), accompanied by ii) a rise in deep cb-tail and midgap states which to some extent can be reduced by appropriate deposition methods; iii) at the valence band side up to x≈0.3 the tail seems not to be affected at all and for 0.3<x<0.9 the vb-tail obviously can be kept similar to that of a-Si:H (Evo≈(50–60) meV). Halfwidths of Raman TO-like modes point to the existence of a rigid Si-network in O<x<0.3 in which Ge is incorporated and to a transition at x>0.35 into a Si-Ge compound structure with maximum disorder at x≈0.5.