Electronic transport in glow-discharge microcrystalline germanium

Abstract

The paper describes the preparation of germanium films deposited on glass substrates by the decomposition of germane-hydrogen mixtures in a radio-frequency glow discharge. Electron microscope diffraction studies indicated that the films were microcrystalline. Electrical conductivity, thermoelectric power and Hall effect measurements have been made in the temperature range 125–500 K. The films are n-type and the results have been correlated successfully using crystalline semiconductor theory. The analysis shows that the effective density of states near the bottom of the conduction band is strongly temperature dependent and this accounts for the variation with temperature of both the thermoelectric power and the conductivity.