On the role of surface phenomena in the Staebler-Wronski effect

Abstract

The results concerning the influence of adsorption of water vapour, ammonia, and diethylether on the Staebler-Wronski effect in amorphous silicon are presented. It is shown that the effect is not due to the surface charging after adsorption. The influence of adsorption on the "dark" conductivity and photoconductivity is observed only after the adsorption of water in the region of rather high concentrations of adsorbed molecules. This is, most probably, due to the proton processes. The sources of protons on the surface seem to be the coordination-bound water molecules.