Electric properties of undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon semiconductors irradiated with self-ions

Sato, Shinichiro; Sai, Hitoshi*; Oshima, Takeshi; Imaizumi, Mitsuru*; Shimazaki, Kazunori*; Kondo, Michio*

Dark conductivity (DC), photoconductivity (PC), and Seebeck coefficient variations of undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon semiconductors irradiated with protons and Si ions were investigated in this study. Both the DC and PC values showed nonmonotonic variations with increasing a fluence in the case of proton irradiation, whereas the monotonic decreases were observed in the case of Si ion irradiation. The Seebeck coefficient variation due to proton irradiation was investigated and the results showed that the increase in DC and PC in the low fluence regime was caused by donor-center generation. It was also shown by analyzing the proton energy dependence and the energy deposition process that the donor-center generation was based on the electronic excitation effect. On the other hand, the decrease in DC and PC in the high fluence regime was attributed to the carrier removal effect and the carrier lifetime decrease due to the accumulation of dangling bonds, respectively. The dangling bond generation due to ion irradiation was mainly caused by the displacement damage effect and therefore it was different from the generation process in the light-induced degradation.