Theory of space charge limited currents

Space-charge-limited currents are important in energy devices such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes, but the available theory from the 1950s finds it necessary to postulate defect states that are distributed in energy in order to match data. Here, we show that this postulate is not warranted...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2012-06, Vol.108 (26), p.266602-266602, Article 266602
Main Authors: Zhang, X-G, Pantelides, Sokrates T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
DEFECTS
ENERGY LEVELS
SHAPE
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR ENERGY
SPACE CHARGE
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Summary:Space-charge-limited currents are important in energy devices such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes, but the available theory from the 1950s finds it necessary to postulate defect states that are distributed in energy in order to match data. Here, we show that this postulate is not warranted. Instead, we demonstrate that dopants and the concomitant Frenkel effect, which have been neglected, control the shape of measured current-voltage characteristics. We also account for the observed peak in the noise power. The new theory can anchor efforts to develop experimental techniques to measure deep-trap levels.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.266602