Photocurrent multiplication in amorphous silicon carbide films

Abstract

The photocurrent multiplication reaching 300 times was recently observed in amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films using a simple cell configuration of SnO2/a-SiC:H/Au. This phenomenon, which appeared only under the irradiation of bulk-absorbed red light, is not due to Avalanche effects, but is thought to result from electron tunneling from SnO2 to a-SiC:H film through a thin insulating thin silicon oxide layer formed at the a-SiC:H/SnO2 interface in a high electric field built up by the photoaccumulated space charges of trapped holes near the interface.