Electrical conduction mechanism and photon-generated carrier recombination process in amorphous InSb films

Temperature dependence of dark conductivity and photoconductivity has been studied in amorphous InSb thin films in the temperature range of 120–300 K. The experimental data suggest that conduction in the high temperature range occurs in the extended states; conduction in the intermediate temperature range is due to thermally assisted tunneling of charge carriers in localized states near the band edge; while conduction in low temperature range takes place through variable range hopping of charge carriers in the localized states near the Fermi level. The temperature dependence of photoconductivity shows that the temperature region is divided into two regions. Moreover the result of intensity dependence of steady state photoconductivity indicates that bimolecular recombination at high temperatures and monomolecular at low temperatures in amorphous InSb thin films. ► Electrical conduction mechanism in amorphous InSb films is discussed in detailed. ► The photon-generated carrier recombination process in amorphous InSb films has been studied. This isn’t reported before. ► The working pressure dependence of electrical properties is discussed.