Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:34:40.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Charge transport through localized states in sputtered amorphous silicon suboxides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

J.J. van Hapert ,
N. Tomozeiu ,
E.E. van Faassen ,
A.M. Vredenberg  and
F.H.P.M. Habraken
J.J. van Hapert
Affiliation:
Debye institute, Utrecht University, P.O.Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The, Netherlands
N. Tomozeiu
Affiliation:
Debye institute, Utrecht University, P.O.Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The, Netherlands
E.E. van Faassen
Affiliation:
Debye institute, Utrecht University, P.O.Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The, Netherlands
A.M. Vredenberg
Affiliation:
Debye institute, Utrecht University, P.O.Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The, Netherlands
F.H.P.M. Habraken
Affiliation:
Debye institute, Utrecht University, P.O.Box 80.000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The, Netherlands
Get access

Abstract

Using an RF magnetron sputtering technique, thin layers (∼500 nm) of amorphous silicon suboxides (a-SiOx) were deposited, with oxygen/silicon ratios x ranging from 0 to 1.8. These layers contain a large density (1020−1021 cm−3) of, mostly silicon dangling bond, defect states. The level of conduction decreases several orders of magnitude with increasing x. The temperature dependence of the DC conductivity showed that the variable range hopping conduction mechanism is dominant for all x, over the temperature range 30- 330 K. In this mechanism the extent of localization and density of states around the Fermi level determine the conductance. We conclude that the decrease in conductance with increasing oxygen content must, for a large part, be due to a variation in the localization, since Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) measurements showed no decrease in defect density with increasing x. We performed DC conduction measurements at both low and high electric field strengths, showing phenomena, which are consistently desribed within the variable range hopping (VRH) model. These measurements allow the extraction of quantitative information, concerning both the localization and the density of the states involved in the hopping process.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 666: Symposium F – Transport and Microstructural Phenomena , 2001 , F3.6
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Yacobi, B.G., Collins, R.W., Moddel, G., Viktorovich, P. and Paul, W., Phys.Rev.B 24, 5907 (1981)Google Scholar
2 Jiranaparul, K., Shirakawa, K. and Shirafuji, J., Jpn.J.Appl.Phys. 25, 1457 (1986)Google Scholar
3 Zacharias, M., Drüsedau, T., Panckow, A., Freistedt, H. and Garke, B., J.of Non-Cryst.Solids 169, 29 (1994)Google Scholar
4 Rossi, M.C., Brandt, M.S. and Stutzmann, M., Appl.Surf.Science 102, 323 (1996)Google Scholar
5 Bik, W.M. Arnold and Habraken, F.H.P.M., Rep. Prog. Phys. 56, 859 (1993)Google Scholar
6 Brodsky, M.H. and Title, R.S., Phys.Rev.Lett. 23, 581 (1969)Google Scholar
7 Singh, A. and Davis, E.A., J.of Non-Cryst.Solids 122, 233 (1990)Google Scholar
8 Ching, W.Y., Phys.Rev.B 26, 6633 (1982)Google Scholar
9 Bell, F.G. and Ley, L., Phys.Rev.B 37, 8383 (1987)Google Scholar
10 Singh, A., Bayliss, S.C., Gurman, S.J. and Davis, E.A., J.of Non-Cryst.Solids 142, 113 (1992)Google Scholar
11 Hapert, J.J. van, Faassen, E.E. van, Vredenberg, A.M., and Habraken, F.H.P.M., Mass and Charge Transport in Inorganic Materials (2001)Google Scholar
12 Mott, N.F. and Davis, E.A., Electronic Processes in Non-Crystalline Materials (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979), p.32 Google Scholar
13 Pollak, M. and Riess, I., J.Phys.C: Solid State Phy. 9, 2339 (1976)Google Scholar
14 Hapert, J.J. van, Faassen, E.E. van, Vredenberg, A.M., and Habraken, F.H.P.M., to be publishedGoogle Scholar