Conduction mechanisms in doped mixed-phase hydrogenated amorphous/nanocrystalline silicon thin films

A detailed description of the microscopic nature of electronic conduction in mixed-phase silicon thin films near the amorphous/nanocrystalline transition is presented. A conduction model utilizing both the conductivity and the reduced activation energy data, involving the parallel contributions of three distinct conduction mechanisms, is shown to describe the data to a high accuracy, providing a clear link between measurement and theory in these complex materials.