Relaxation of photovoltage in ITO-Ge-Si heterojunction with Ge nanostructured thin films

Abstract

The paper focuses on an experimental study of the photovoltage time decay in an ITO-Ge-Si heterojunction with a Ge nanostructured thin film. Kinetics under 650 nm excitation within the temperature range 80 to 290 K are successfully described by a single exponential function with temperature-dependent decay constants. Photovoltage relaxation is modeled taking into account the hopping nature of electron transport in the band of localized states.