1/f-noise study of undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films

Abstract

Conductance fluctuations in four samples of undoped intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) were measured in the temperature range of 450 K to 500 K and for frequencies from 2 Hz to 3 kHz. The noise spectra divide into two regions that each fit a 1/fα power law but with different slope parameters a and different temperature dependences. At low frequencies, α is greater than unity and increases with temperature. At high frequencies, α is near 0.6 and temperature independent, but the noise magnitude decreases rapidly with temperature. We infer from the different dependences on temperature that the noise is generated by two independent mechanisms operating simultaneously in a-Si:H. We also observe that the 1/f noise exhibits a quadratic dependence on bias current and Gaussian statistics. © 1999 American Physical Society.