New experimental evidence for minority-carrier MIS diodes

Measurements of short-circuit density Jsc and open-circuit photovoltage Voc have been made over a range of illumination levels at various temperatures for Al-SiOx-pSi MIS photodiodes. It is found that at high illumination levels the data satisfy the relation Jsc=J0 exp(qVoc/kT), where J0 is a temperature-dependent constant. By examining the variation of J0 with temperature it is conclusively demonstrated that the dark current in these diodes is dominated by minority-carrier flow, confirming recent theoretical predictions.