Measurement and analysis of photocurrent transient characteristics for hydrogenated amorphous-silicon photodiodes

The relations between the photocurrent transient after the end of steady-state illumination for hydrogenated amorphous silicon photodiodes and the related film properties for undoped hydrogenated amorphous silicon prepared by mercury-sensitized photochemical vapor deposition are investigated. The photocurrent transient characteristic indicates significant correlations with the film properties, such as electron drift mobility (μ_d), silicon dangling bond density (N _s), a minimum in the density of states near the Fermi level (N_min), and space-charge density (N _i). The photocurrent transient decay decreases with increasing μ_d and with decreasing N_s, M_min, and N_i. This result was confirmed by a model analysis