J. E. Morris and I. Boonpikum

Department of Electrical Engineering, T.J. Watson School of Engineering & Applied Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.

Inhomogeneous discontinuous metal thin films demonstrate a number of unique properties not observed in homogeneous island films, such as polarity-dependent (diode-like) conduction and complex frequency effects including pseudo inductance. These properties have never been explained by the conventional conduction models, which also under-estimate film conductance by orders of magnitude. Computer simulations of the development of film conduction, based on simple electrostatically activated tunneling mechanisms have already demonstrated the origins of the increased conductance and the diode effect in inhomogeneous films [1]. The model includes these conduction mechanisms: electron and hole transfer, electron-hole recombination and electron-hole generation in addition to contact injection of electrons and holes. This paper will extend the earlier results to demonstrate some of the frequency effects mentioned above.

[1] J. E. Morris & Fan Wu, Thin Solid Films 317 (1998) 178-182.