Photoluminescence yield and decay time of proton irradiated and thermally annealed a-Si0.35C0.65:H alloys: A phenomenological model

Abstract

We have studied the yield and the time evolution of pulsed laser induced photoluminescence in proton irradiated and thermally annealed amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbon alloys prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Three major fluorescence decay channels have been observed with decay rates independent from proton irradiation and thermal annealing. Lack of correlation between yield and average decay time suggests a very simple phenomenological model which allows evaluation of the nonradiative time constant which is found to be linearly correlated with the photoluminescence yield. Our model suggests that radiative recombination occurs via exciton decay while the nonradiative recombination is driven by the trapping of carriers in defects states.