Calculation of electronic potential energy distributions and photoconductivity in hydrogenated amorphous silicon/hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride superlattices

Abstract

Abstract A model is proposed for calculating the electronic potential energy distribution and the temperature dependence of photoconductivity (PC) in hydrogenated amorphous siliconhydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride superlattices. The Simmons-Taylor theory and the occupation statistics of correlated defects are used to describe band-tail and dangling-bond states. The electronic potential energy and charge distributions resulting from space-charge doping are calculated for various amounts of transferred charge and different asymmetrical boundary conditions. The dark conductivity (DC) and the PC are calculated for the corresponding spatial potential energy distributions. It is found that the enhancement of DC and PC in the superlattices are mainly determined by the amount of injected charge, the influence of interface asymmetry being slight.