Photoinduced phenomena in thin films of amorphous selenium (a-Se) have been a subject of intensive researches so far. Thin films of a-Se were deposited on corning glass by thermal evaporation, with several thicknesses. The influence of light exposure, with different colors (blue or red or natural white light), on the optical and structural properties of a-Se thin films was carried out by using ultraviolet–visible transmittance spectroscopy. It was found that the gap of the samples illuminated with blue and natural white light at room temperature shifts to lower energies. This photodarkening is stable at room temperature and is irreversible even after several days. On the other hand the photodarkening in the samples illuminated with red light is much smaller than that for samples illuminated with blue and natural white light. The photodarkening is accompanied by an increase in the refractive index. These results are discussed with results, previously obtained, about the photoinduced changes of the negative-U centers in, T– and T+, studied using time-of-flight (TOF) traces recorded on samples prepared in the same conditions. These TOF measurements show that the defect level T– at 0.4 eV above the valence band edge shifts to 0.5 eV under illumination with white light at room temperature. This effect is not seen if the illumination is done at 35 °C. These phenomena are attributed to nanocrystallization in the a-Se films.
Ultrafast defect dynamics: A new approach to all optical broadband switching employing amorphous selenium thin films