Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
In doping-modulated a-Si:H multilayers metastable excess conductance states can be excited by brief illumination. In addition to these so-called persistent photoconductivities (PPC) we observe new metastable conductance states by bias-cooling the dopingmodulated multilayers from a temperature Ta≥130° C. These metastable states exhibit greatly different nonlinear current-voltage characteristics both parallel and perpendicular to the layers. Furthermore, the magnitude of the PPC as well as the relaxation of the PPC to equilibrium are strongly affected by applying a bias during illumination and during relaxa-tion, respectively.