A study was made of the creation (Stabler-Wronski effect) of metastable defects, by illumination with laser light, in stoichiometric hydrogenated amorphous material. The defect creation kinetics were monitored via decreases in photoluminescence as a function of time and incident power. A stretched-exponential increase in the number of defects was found, as in hydrogenated amorphous Si, but with different material parameters. From the time and power dependences of the measured increase in the number of defects, it was concluded that the well-known P⅔t⅓ law did not hold for the present material. The details of the power-dependence of defect creation showed that the defect reconfiguration mechanism was more relevant. It was shown that illumination with sub-bandgap light, normalized to a given number of absorbed photons, produced only small changes. This phenomenon could be introduced into the model via a maximum configuration energy for a state that could transform into a non-radiative centre.

Light-Induced Creation of Metastable Defects in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide. R.Reitano, A.Baeri, G.Foti: Philosophical Magazine B, 2001, 81[6], 629-36