Photoconductivity kinetics in AgIn5S8 thin films

The temperature (T) and illumination intensity (F) effects on the photoconductivity of as grown and heat-treated AgIn5S8 thin films has been investigated. At fixed illumination intensity, in the temperature region of 40-300K, the photocurrent (I-ph) of the films was observed to decrease with decreasing temperature. The I-ph of the as grown sample behaved abnormally in the temperature region of 170-180K. At fixed temperature and variable illumination intensity, the photocurrent of the as grown sample exhibited linear, sublinear and supralinear recombination mechanisms at 300 K and in the regions of 160-260K and 25-130 K. respectively. This behavior is attributed to the exchange of role between the linear recombination at the surface near room temperature and trapping centers in the film which become dominant as temperature decreases. Annealing the sample at 350 K for 1 h improved the characteristic curves of I-ph. The abnormality disappeared and the I-ph - T dependence is systematic. The data analysis of which revealed two recombination centers located at 66 and 16 meV. In addition, the sublinear recombination mechanism disappeared and the heat-treated films exhibited supralinear recombination in most of the studied temperature range. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.