Photoinduced relaxation of metastable states in (<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>-Si:H):B

The kinetics of thermal relaxation of an ensemble of photoinduced metastable electrically active B atoms in (a-Si:H):B films is studied after partial relaxation of the ensemble in the dark and under illumination of various intensities and duration. The parameters of a stretched exponential function that describes the ensemble kinetics are determined. It is found that photoinduced relaxation of metastable states manifests itself under conditions in which its rate exceeds the rate of the states’ photoinduced generation. It is shown that the variations in the relaxation-time distribution function of metastable states caused by thermal and photoinduced relaxation are similar.