Lucky drift impact ionization in amorphous semiconductors

The review of avalanche multiplication experiments clearly confirms the existence of the impact ionization effect in this class of semiconductors. The semilogarithmic plot of the impact ionization coefficient (α) versus the reciprocal field (1∕F) for holes in a-Se and electrons in a-Se and a-Si:H places the avalanche multiplication phenomena in amorphous semiconductors at much higher fields than those typically reported for crystalline semiconductors with comparable bandgaps. Furthermore, in contrast to well established concepts for crystalline semiconductors, the impact ionization coefficient in a-Se increases with increasing temperature. The McKenzie and Burt [S. McKenzie and M. G. Burt, J. Phys. C 19, 1959 (1986)] version of Ridley’s lucky drift (LD) model [B. K. Ridley, J. Phys. C 16, 3373 (1988)] has been applied to impact ionization coefficient versus field data for holes and electrons in a-Se and electrons in a-Si:H. We have extracted the electron impact ionization coefficient versus field (αe vs F...

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