Analysis of lifetime distribution of defect luminescence in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

The lifetime distribution of defect photo-luminescence (PL) in a-Si:H has been analyzed quantitatively by obtaining a characteristic lifetime for the distribution. The generation rate dependence and the temperature variation of the characteristic lifetime have been obtained for the defect PL. Decrease of the lifetime with increasing generation rate, i.e., the nature of non-geminate recombination, has been observed for the defect PL of 0.83 and 0.95 eV. Temperature variation of the characteristic lifetime of the PL has also been studied. The radiative recombination rate weakly depends on temperature in the case of 0.83 eV while it increases with increasing temperature in the case of 0.95–1.46 eV. Changes of the radiative recombination processes with increasing temperature are discussed.