S.

Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous

Semiconductorsa
1
Optical
properties
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
2
General aspects
Optical absorption and luminescence
occur by transition of electrons and holes
between electronic states (bands, tail
states, gap states). If electron-phonon
coupling is strong enough self-trapping
occurs.

S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
3
Absorption coefficient is defined by
I(z) = I
o
exp {- z}
where I(z) is the flux density if incident
light is I
o
, z is the distance measured from
the incident surface. Hence
= - (1/I(z)) dI(z)/dz
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
4
Absorption
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
5
Tauc law (Tauc plot, A region)
The absorption coefficient, , due to
interband transition near the band-gap is
well described:

= B ( E
g
)
2
is photon energy, E
g
is optical gap.
This Tauc plot defines the optical gap in
amorphous semiconductors.
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
6
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
7
S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
8
Urbach tail (B region)
The absorption coefficient at the photon
energy below the optical gap (tail
absorption) depends exponentially on the
photon energy:
( ) ~ exp ( /E
u
)

where E
u
is called Urbach energy.


S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
9
C region
In addition, optical absorption by defects
also appears at energy lower than optical
gap. Likewise is written as another
exponential function of photon energy:
() ~ exp (/E
d
),
E
d
belongs to the width of the defect
states. C region is rather sensitive to the
structural properties of materials.

S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
10
Direct/indirect transition
In the case of crystalline semiconductors
(without defects, there is no localized
state) photoluminescence occurs by
transition between the bottom of the
conduction band and the top of the
valence band. k selection rule must be
satisfied: k
photon
= k
i
k
f
. (k
photon
, k
i
and,
k
f
are the wave numbers of photons,
electron of initial and final states.

S. Kugler: Lectures on Amorphous
Semiconductorsa
11
Since k
photon
is much smaller than k
i
and k
f
, we
can rewrite the selection rule:

k
i
= k
f.

The semiconductors satisfying this condition is
called direct-gap semiconductors. c-Si is not
satisfying k-selection rule (indirect-gap
semiconductor). Transition is allowed by either
absorption of phonons or their emission.

There is no k vector in amorphous
systems!