Rate Equations for the Creation of Various Metastable Dangling Bonds in a-Si:H Mediated by Floating Bonds

Using rate equations based on the creation and annihilation of a pair of a dangling bond and a floating bond and their interconversion, various metastable defect-creation processes in a-Si:H are quantitatively analyzed for the case of bandgap-light irradiation, electron-beam irradiation and thermal quenching from elevated temperatures. It is found that the calculated results can reproduce most of the observed results.