Defect kinetics in new model of metastability in a-Si:H

Abstract We recently developed a new atomistic model of metastability of amorphous hydrogen silicon (a-Si:H), involving changes in silicon and H bonding, and driven by the breaking of weak silicon bonds. The kinetics of degradation in this model are simulated with coupled rate equations which show saturation behavior similar to experiment. Dangling bond (DB) defects follow the well-known G2/3t1/3 kinetics of defect creation. Saturated defect densities of neutral DBs are accompanied by a much smaller density of floating bonds (FBs).