Ultrafast Terahertz Conductivity of Photoexcited Nanocrystalline Silicon

The ultrafast transient ac conductivity of nanocrystalline silicon films is investigated using time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy. While epitaxial silicon on sapphire exhibits a free carrier Drude response, silicon nanocrystals embedded in glass show a response that is best described by a classical Drude–Smith model, suitable for disorder-driven metal–insulator transitions. In this work, we explore the time evolution of the frequency dependent complex conductivity after optical injection of carriers on a picosecond time scale. Furthermore, we show the lifetime of photoconductivity in the silicon nanocrystal films is dominated by trapping at the Si/SiO2 interface states, occurring on a 1–100 ps time scale depending on particle size and hydrogen passivation