This three-year award for US-Portugal collaboration on the physics of quasimorphous silicon thin-film for applications in large-area electronics involves Abdul Middya and students at Syracuse University and Rodrigo F. Martins at the New University of Lisbon, Portugal. The purpose of the project is to understand how drift mobilities and other electronic properties of thin-film silicon that are sensitive to disorder-induced localization vary. The researchers will also explore why defect metastability varies between quasimorphous and conventional amorphous silicon.
The US researchers bring to this collaboration expertise in electronic transport, density of-state measurements and device modeling. This is complemented by Portuguese experience in plasma-processing of materials and fabrication of devices for photovoltaics and micro-electronics. Defect metastability is one of the greatest impediments for commercialization of non-crystalline Si-based thin-film technologies. An understanding of defect metastability in amorphous silicon has technological significance for use in laptop computers, solar cells, and laboratory arrays and detectors.
