Space charge barrier

Figure 8.7 Tunneling through the space-charge layer at equilibrium and for an anodic overpotential. Note that the band bending is stronger after the application of the overpotential. The arrows indicate electrons tunneling through the space-charge barrier.

Fig. 19. The space charge barrier in an n-type semiconductor in exhaustion where the major donor site energy lies well below the conduction-band edge. The system parameters are, with respect to the Fermi level, E] (energy of the CB in the bulk) = 0.2 eV, E (CB at surface) = 0.6 eV, Ld = 20.A. , (vs. EF) values are given against each curve.

The electron space charge barrier to current flow can be neutralized by providing heavy cesium ions. Cesium is a particularly good choice because it has the lowest ionization potential of any element and a large atomic mass 133 amu, which causes the mobility of ions leaving the plasma to be low. The ions are produced in a low voltage arc between the electrodes. 

The results of several studies were interpreted by the Poole-Erenkel mechanism of field-assisted release of electrons from traps in the bulk of the oxide. In other studies, the Schottky mechanism of electron flow controlled by a thermionic emission over a field-lowered barrier at the counter electrode oxide interface was used to explain the conduction process. Some results suggested a space charge-limited conduction mechanism operates. The general lack of agreement between the results of various studies has been summari2ed (57). 

Blom et al. [85] stated that the l/V characteristics in LEDs based on ITO/di-alkoxy-PPVs/Ca are determined by the bulk conductivity and not by the charge carrier injection, which is attributed to the low barrier heights at the interface ITO/PPV and PPV/Ca. They observed that the current flow in so called hole-only devices [80], where the work function of electrodes are close to the valence band of the polymer, with 1TO and Au as the electrodes, depends quadratically on the voltage in a logl/logV plot and can be described with following equation, which is characteristic for a space-charge-limitcd current (SCL) flow (s. Fig. 9-26) ... 

For typical polymer LED device parameters, currenl is space charge limited if the energy barrier to injection is less than about 0.3-0.4 eV and contact limited if it is laiger than that. Injection currents have a component due to thermionic emission and a component due to tunneling. Both thermionic emission and tunneling... 

In the lattice-gas model, as treated in Section IV.D above, ion transfer is viewed as an activated process. In an alternative view it is considered as a transport governed by the Nernst-Planck or the Langevin equation. These two models are not necessarily contra-dictive for high ionic concentrations the space-charge regions and the interface have similar widths, and then the barrier for ion transfer may vanish. So the activated mechanism may operate at low and the transport mechanism at high ionic concentrations. 

Satisfactory agreement of experiments with kinetic laws, described by Eqs. (44) and (45), are observed only for tantalum and niobium, when the current efficiency approaches 100%. Even for these metals, certain deviations occur which could be attributed to space charge effects,82 electronic leakage currents,83 or other factors. In the case of aluminum, these deviations are relatively large, as, even in barrier-forming electrolytes, some oxide dissolution takes place from the very beginning of voltage supply to an anodized sample.32... 

When the results for oxide growth and anion incorporation172,160 are compared with the kinetics of space charge accumulation in barrier and porous alumina films [see Section IV(1)], it can be concluded that anion incorporation modifies the electrostatics of the external oxide interface, thus influencing oxide dissolution and pore formation.172... 

When the semiconductor is highly doped, the space-charge region is thin, and electrons can tunnel through the barrier formed at a depletion layer. 

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