Anomalous Hopping Conduction Discovered in N-Type a-Si

Historically, n-type amorphous silicon has been shown to obey a conductivity temperature dependence of ln σ ∝ 1/T, determiend by a semi-log Arrhenius plot. This work presents measurements of dark conductivity in amorphous silicon doped with high amounts of phosphine ([PH₃]/[SiH₄] = 0.01 - 0.03) and grown with argon dilution that have yielded an anomalous hopping conduction mechanism: ln σ ∝ 1/T^p where p ≈ 0.75, determined by Resistance Curve Derivative Analysis. A comparison between these results and historical data is presented.