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To cite this article: G. A. N. Connell, D. L. Camphausen & William Paul (1972): Theory of Poole-
Frenkel conduction in low-mobility semiconductors, Philosophical Magazine, 26:3, 541-551
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Theory of Poole-Frenkel Conduction in Low-mobility
Semiconductorst
ABSTRACT
A new expression is derived for the current produced by a high electric field
in a low-mobility semiconductor, taking into account the mechanism of
Poole-Frenkel emission from a Coulombic trap, the mobility of the carrier
after emission into the conduction band, and the zero-field statistical distribu-
tion of carriers between conduction band, donor states and compensating
acceptor states. Differences between these and earlier formulae are examined,
and arguments presented for the different regimes of applicability. Recent
data on amorphous germanium are considered, using the various formulae,
and it is concluded that high-field transport measurements alone are
insufficient to define uniquely the parameters of such theories.
5 1. INTRODUCTION
THE probability of occupation of a donor site in a semiconductor is
reduced in an electric field, a phenomenon first noted by Frenkel
(1938 a, b), and since employed as the basis for the explanation of the field
dependence of the conductivity in many insulating materials and, more
recently, in amorphous semiconductors (Jonscher 1967, 1971 a). The
exact form of the J-F characteristic depends on the shape of the potential
well around the donor site and upon the behaviour of the electron in the
conduction band after emission. However, the necessary condition under
which the effect may be observed may be generally stated : the increased
probability of emission due t o the lowering of the potential barrier by the
field must be significantly larger than the probability of impact ionization
of the site by sufficiently hot electrons. This condition, analysed in some
detail by Jonscher (1970), clearly requires materials with low mobilities,
and explains why the effect has not been reported in the common
crystalline semiconductors.
Theoretical treatments of the problem follow Frenkel, who calculated
the lowering of an isolated Coulombic barrier in an electric field. This
__. ____-___
f Work supported by the D.E.A.P., the ONR and the ARPA.
$ Present address : Laboratoire dElectrostatique et de Physique du Metal,
CNRS-Cedex No. 166, 38-Grenoble-Gare,France.
542 G. A. N. Connell et al. o n the
approach, however, has several weaknesses. The peak in the barrier
height of an isolated well in the direction of the field F occurs a t a distance
xm(F ) from the centre of the site. To avoid the problem of the interaction
between adjacent wells and a concomitant modification of x,, a lower
bound is placed on the separation of the sites. Since x,, increases as the
field decreases, there exists a minimum field F , below which the theory,
based on a single-site approximation, is inapplicable.
At absolute zero an electron may only escape from its donor site by
tunnelling through the barrier in the direction of the field. At any non-
zero temperature there is in addition the probability that the electron will
be emitted over the reduced barrier or by tunnelling from an excited state
in the well. The field-assisted conductivity therefore has two components.
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$ 2 . THEORETICAL
DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Statistical Considerations
The probability of occupation of a donor site in zero field is determined
a t any temperature by the density of states and the total number of
electrons per unit volume in the system. I n an amorphous semiconductor
the density of states in the conduction band is not known and in addition
it is often postulated that a continuous tail of localized states extends
from the conduction band edge to lower energy (Cohen 1970 a, b).
Nevertheless, a single activation energy for conductivity or in some cases
carrier production is found in many such materials over a limited
temperature range. However, this need not imply the existence of a
discrete donor level.
For example, consider a model semiconductor with a density nd of donor
states per unit energy in the range Ed to ed - 8e. If N , is the density of
acceptor levels, then charge balance requires that
(2)
N , < <n&T
where fl, is the total density of donors, A( T )is a parameter describing the
effective density of states in the conduction band and the degree of
compensation and 1 < m < 2 . This is evident in the models considered by
Blakemore (1962),and has also been noted by Fritzsche (1972). We now
consider the enhancement of Po by the electric field.
Poole-Frenlcel Conduction in Low-mobility Xemiconductors 545
s: v-47
where
e e2
, E , = E ~ - E and
~ A E = e F x cos 8--
47r0z-
For small fields, lim P(8) = Po(0) =
F -+O mkT
Furthermore, a numerical integration of the expression for P shows that
the ratio (p(s)~Fpo'B~)
6 0-06 for all fields. The integration over the
t We recognize but ignore the possibility that a quadratic Stark effect might
lead to a net increase in the ionization energy at very low fields.
546 G. A. N. Connell et al. on the
entire hemisphere in the reverse direction, using Po(6) as a valid approxi-
mation, leads to the probability of emission
[l - ( a + 1) exp ( - a ) ] 2-
PO .
a
We note that the necessary conditions on the low- and high-field behaviour
of the escape probability, namely that
lim P , = lim P, = *Po and lim P , =0
F+O F+O F+a,
while the difference in the probabilities for emission in the forward and
reverse direction is
A P = P F - P R = [ a c o s h a - s i n h a ] - .2PO . . . (6)
a2
-
We believe that this approach is invalid for the following reasons.
First, vD F1'2is valid when a carrier is accelerated over a certain distance
and then trapped without intermediate scattering events. However,
with a drift mobility of 0.1 cm2/v-sec and a field of 104V/cm, a carrier
will be trapped in 5 x 10-lo s if the centres are 50 A apart ; using a typical
relaxation time of the order of 10-13sec, we then find that during this
period 200 scattering events have taken place. Hence the relaxation time
approximation, which leads to the familiar dependence of the drift
velocity on field, that is, vD F , is applicable.
N
Poole-Frenkel Conduction in Low-mobility Xemiconductors 547
J = A ( T ) e p exp - p, );C
which shows normal ohmic behaviour. This is a necessary condition for a
single-well model. I n high fields
pp1'2
J =B ( T ) e p m k T P - l exp -
(
E&-E,
mkT ) ( z)37112,
3 3. DISCUSSION
The analysis of the temperature and field dependence of the conductivity
in terms of expressions like eqn. ( 7 ) is most conveniently carried through
by adapting the technique outlined by Hill (1971 a). (Note that in his
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I I
I 1
1.0 10
NORMALIZED FIELD 3
$= 1+ 9sinh 9-cosh F,
mkT
' = 2 A ( TJ ) e p (J--)2 exp (s) , 9= cL,
the results may be plotted in such a way that experimental data obtained
a t different temperatures fall on the same curve. The line through the
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points is then the theoretical expression for the current given by eqn. (7).
The parameters in eqn. (7) obtained from the analysis are presented in the
table. As expected, the quantity m lies between 1 and 2 but it is difficult
to take the analysis any further, since the temperature dependence of
A(T ) is unknown for an amorphous semiconductor. However, assuming
that A ( T )is a constant A , we find for EDC-1 that mE, as defined in the
previous section, is 0.15 ev. We have already observed that the inter-
pretation of the activation energy E depends on the type of conduction
after emission. If we assume that A 1017 N and W < (6, - cd)/m
(e.g. in amorphous silicon, LeComber and Spear (1970) found W=O.Olev
in three samples), then p (100 K) N em2 V-1 s-l. We note that this
value for the mobility is in the range, suggested by Cohen (1970), for
Temp.
Sample range m ktp (100 K ) Remarks
(OK) (cm-l V-l s-l 1
EDC-1 78-170 1.51 1014 Electrolytic
E-95 94 1.42 Electrolytic
E-97-2 78-130 1-51 N 1014 Electrolytic
Croitoru 78-92 1a55 Evaporated
and
Vescan
(1969)
Morgan 35-80 2.5 1017 Evaporated
and :approx.)
Walley
(1971)
550 G. A. N. Connell et al. on the
conduction by percolation or by hopping in localized states and thus is in
agreement with the model for amorphous germanium described by Connell
and Paul (1971) and Camphausen et al. (1971).
The table also includes the results of similar analyses on several of our
other samples and on the published work of Croitoru and Vescan (CV)
(1969) and Morgan and Walley (MW) (1971). I n the range of tempera-
ture over which the data were fitted, m is close to 1.5 for all the samples
except that of MW, and E is close to 0.15 ev for all the samples except
that of CV. I n fact, the fit of eqn. (7) to MWs work was significantly
poorer than the otherwise typical result shown in the figure, and we
suspect that the large power density (of order 1-10 W dissipated
in their samples during measurement raised the sample temperature above
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ambient. Similarly the value of E for CVs material was obtained from
fig. 2 of their paper and is considerably less accurate than our results.
On the other hand, the product of A p is significantly larger in evaporated
material (MW) than in electrolytic material, but whether this difference
corresponds to significant differences in the mobility p or in the density of
states parameter A cannot be resolved without further experimentation.
However, such a difference does not affect the internal consistency of our
analysis but rather suggests an area in which further work is crucial.
The present formulation of the Poole-Frenkel theory is able to explain
the conductivity of several types of amorphous germanium for tempera-
tures between 50 K and 150 K. However, this is not necessarily a unique
explanation, since the expression given by Hill, namely J P112AP, N
REFERENCES
BLAKEMORE, J. S., 1962, Semiconductor Statistics (Pergamon), pp. 135-136.
CAMPHAUSEN, D. L., CONNELL, G. A. N., and PAUL,W., 1971, Conference on
Amorphous Semiconductors a t Ann Arbor ; J . Non-Cryst. Solids (to be
published).
COHEN,M. H., 1970 a, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 2, 432 ; 1970 b, Ibid., 4, 391.
CONNELL,G. A. N., and PAUL,W., 1971, Conference on Amorphous Semi-
conductors at Ann Arbor ; J . iVon-Cryst. Solids (to be published).
CROITORU,N., and VESCAN,L., 1969, Thin Solid Films, 3, 269.
FRENKEL,J., 1938 a, Phys. Rev., 54,647 ; 1938 b, Tech. Phys. U.S.S.R., 5, 685.
FRITZSCHE,H., 1972, Electronic Properties of Materials, edited by R. H. Bube
(McGraw-Hill) (to be published).
Poole--Frenkel Conduction in Low-mobility Xemiconductors 551