Abstract Starting from the multiple trapping rate equations that define the non-equilibrium concentrations of electrons and holes in extended states, the experiment of photocurrent decay from the steady-state is examined. A system of non-linear coupled differential equations is solved to get the temporal evolution of the occupation functions and the carrier concentrations after cessation of the illumination. Different expressions proposed in the literature to evaluate the carrier lifetimes from the photocurrent decay data are critically examined. Measurements performed on a series of hydrogenated amorphous silicon samples deposited at different substrate temperatures are reproduced by the simulations. It is found that the response time determined from the photocurrent initial rate-of-decay provides an excellent estimation of the free lifetime of the majority carrier, provided the decay is recorded from sufficiently short times. It is also found that the common recombination lifetime can also be estimated from the photocurrent decay data.

中文翻译：

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薄膜氢化非晶硅稳态光电流衰减：实验结果的数值模拟分析

摘要 从定义电子和空穴在扩展态的非平衡浓度的多重俘获率方程出发，研究了从稳态开始的光电流衰减实验。求解非线性耦合微分方程组以获得在停止照射后占据函数和载流子浓度的时间演变。文献中提出的用于从光电流衰减数据评估载流子寿命的不同表达式被严格检查。模拟再现了对在不同衬底温度下沉积的一系列氢化非晶硅样品进行的测量。发现从光电流初始衰减率确定的响应时间提供了对多数载流子自由寿命的极好估计，前提是从足够短的时间内记录衰减。还发现共同复合寿命也可以从光电流衰减数据估计。