Variable Range Hopping Conduction in Semiconductor Nanocrystal Solids

Abstract

The temperature and electrical field dependent conductivity of n-type CdSe nanocrystal thin films is investigated. In the low electrical field regime, the conductivity follows sigma approximately exp([-(T(*)/T)(1/2)] in the temperature range 10<T<120 K. At high electrical field, the conductivity is strongly field dependent. At 4 K, the conductance increases by 8 orders of magnitude over one decade of bias. At a very high field, conductivity is temperature independent with sigma approximately exp([-(E(*)/E)(1/2)]. The complete behavior is very well described by variable range hopping with a Coulomb gap.