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Monte Carlo analysis for the evaluation of the distribution of potential fluctuations within a disordered semiconductor

University of British Columbia

Disordered semiconductors, including poly-crystalline and amorphous semiconductors, have unique properties that can be attributed to the disorder present within their atomic structure. While the distribution of electronic states associated with a defect-free crystalline semiconductor terminates abruptly at the band edges, in a disordered semiconductor, electronic states encroach into this otherwise empty gap region. This encroachment of the electronic states into the band gap region of a disordered semiconductor can be credited for many of its unique properties. Unfortunately, due to its random nature, the quantitative characterization of the disorder that is present within a disordered semiconductor has proven a difficult task to grapple with. The distribution of potential fluctuations found within such a material has a direct impact on the distribution of electronic states within a disordered semiconductor. The aim of this thesis is to characterize this distribution of potential fluctuations. In particular, I use a Monte Carlo approach, where simulations, replicating the random nature of the defects found within a disordered semiconductor, are performed a large number of times in order to obtain the distribution of potential fluctuations associated with such a semiconductor. With the distribution of potential fluctuations evaluated, the impact on the corresponding distribution of electronic states will be probed.

Text

2018-12-18

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/68091

Electrical Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/