Electrical conductivity of polycrystalline semiconductors

Studies on the synthesis of cubic ZnS quantum dots, capping and optical–electrical characteristics

“…At the same time, there is smaller activation energy (both AC and DC) barrier for conduction in materials with higher fraction of such interfaces. When temperature is raised, sine the activation energy barrier is smaller; the charge carriers from the grain boundaries/interfaces get emitted thermionically [48]. Since the thermionic emission promotes local current, duly supported by very small activation barrier for the conduction of electrons, electrons gets much accelerated across these regions and apparently result in higher conductivity.…”

The effect of organic additives on the intergranular conductivity of Al-doped ZnO

“…This situation is typical in n-type semiconductor, where electrons, coming from the conduction band, transfer to acceptor states at the surface (originating from dangling bonds, variation in chemical composition.). [26][27][28]31 This leads to the enhancement of the work function at the interface as shown on Fig. 8a.…”

“…[26][27][28] These defects trap electrons or holes and an energy band bending occurs on both sides of the grain boundary to establish electronic equilibrium. [29][30][31] This phenomenon is at the origin of the so-called double Schottky barrier, the height of which depends on the intergranular domain. In areas where particles are not in contact, the intergranular domain may be considered as vacuum, and the barrier height is equal to the difference between the vacuum level and the conduction band level ( Fig.…”

Dc conductivity of consolidated nanoparticles of zinc sulfide

“…Snejar and Jerhot [24] described a phenomenological model for electrical conductivity in polycrystalline semiconductors by assuming that an isotype heterojunction with a certain interface state density exists at the grain-intergrain interface. According to Snejar and Jerhot [24], thermionic emission is one of the major charge transfer mechanisms across grain boundary barriers in polycrystalline semiconductors. Earlier studies have shown that if the conductivity of a material exhibits Arrhenius behavior, thermionic emission is one of the prominent electrical transport mechanisms [22].…”