AbstractWe study the dark conductivity σd, dark conductivity activation energy Ea and photoconductivity σph of a-Si:H,F/a-Si,Ge:H,F superlattices both perpendicular and parallel to the plane of the layers. In parallel transport, both the σph and σd are dominated by the alloy layer characteristics with the superposition of carrier confinement quantum effects. In perpendicular transport, the σd shows an interplay of quantum mechanical tunneling through the barriers and of classical thermal emission over the barrier layer and the σph is controlled by the decreasing absorption by the silicon barrier layer as the optical gap Eopt of the structure decreases.We also found that the multilayer structure allows to grow lower gap a-Si,Ge:H,F alloys than achievable under the same deposition conditions for bulk materials. This stabilizing effect allowed us to study low-gap superlattice structures and extract information about these very low gap (<1.2 eV) a- Si,Ge:H,F alloys.
Ultrafast carrier thermalization and trapping in silicon-germanium alloy probed by extreme ultraviolet transient absorption spectroscopy