Dammed-Up Charge Carriers

Why do minority carriers accumulate in the depletion region near the onset of photocurrents Theoretically, three factors are decisive for this phenomenon  

Any change in the constants kn j and Ap should of course be reflected in a change in the PMC peak. 

The increased lifetime of photogenerated minority carriers can be measured experimentally. This is shown for a single-crystal ZnO-electrode (Fig. 22). Both the stationary PMC peak and the potential-dependent lifetime in the depletion region, measured with transient microwave conductivity techniques are plotted.25 It is seen that the stationary PMC peak coincides with a peak in the lifetime of minority carriers. This 

Since the magnitude and shape of this PMC peak depend on the rate constants of minority charge carriers, the PMC peak provides access to kinetic measurements. It is interest that the height as well as the shape of the PMC peak change with the frequency of light pulsing. This is shown 

In studies on Pt dotted silicon electrodes, PMC measurements revealed that tiny Pt dots increased the interfacial charge transfer compared with bare silicon surfaces in contact with aqueous electrolytes. However, during an aging effect, the thickness of the oxide layer between the silicon and the platinum dots gradually increased so that the kinetic advantage again decreased with time.11 

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An important step toward the understanding and theoretical description of microwave conductivity was made between 1989 and 1993, during the doctoral work of G. Schlichthorl, who used silicon wafers in contact with solutions containing different concentrations of ammonium fluoride.9 The analytical formula obtained for potential-dependent, photoin-duced microwave conductivity (PMC) could explain the experimental results. The still puzzling and controversial observation of dammed-up charge carriers in semiconductor surfaces motivated the collaboration with a researcher (L. Elstner) on silicon devices. A sophisticated computation program was used to calculate microwave conductivity from basic transport equations for a Schottky barrier. The experimental curves could be matched and it was confirmed for silicon interfaces that the analytically derived formulas for potential-dependent microwave conductivity were identical with the numerically derived nonsimplified functions within 10%.10... 

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