Semiconducting glasses part II: Properties and interpretation

Abstract

The properties of amorphous germanium and silicon, vitreous selenium chalcogenide glasses and transition-metal oxide glasses are described and discussed. Much of the current experimental data can be interpreted within the framework of the theoretical models developed in Part I, in which the main influence of disorder is the so-called ‘tail of localized states’. Typical semiconducting properties are observed and in many cases the amorphous materials behave rather like ordinary intrinsic semiconductors. It must be recognized, however, that at the moment only a qualitative interpretation is possible and many problems remain to be solved.