Lifetime, carrier

Subpicosecond carrier lifetime in GaAs grown by MBE at low temperatures App/. Rhys. Lett. 59 3276-8... 

Radiative recombination of minority carriers is tlie most likely process in direct gap semiconductors. Since tlie carriers at tlie CB minimum and tlie VB maximum have tlie same momentum, very fast recombination can occur. The radiative recombination lifetimes in direct semiconductors are tlius very short, of tlie order of tlie ns. The presence of deep-level defects opens up a non-radiative recombination patli and furtlier shortens tlie carrier lifetime. 

The situation is very different in indirect gap materials where phonons must be involved to conserve momentum. Radiative recombination is inefficient, resulting in long lifetimes. The minority carrier lifetimes in Si reach many ms, again in tire absence of defects. It should be noted tliat long minority carrier lifetimes imply long diffusion lengtlis. Minority carrier lifetime can be used as a convenient quality benchmark of a semiconductor. 

If tlie level(s) associated witli tlie defect are deep, tliey become electron-hole recombination centres. The result is a (sometimes dramatic) reduction in carrier lifetimes. Such an effect is often associated witli tlie presence of transition metal impurities or certain extended defects in tlie material. For example, substitutional Au is used to make fast switches in Si. Many point defects have deep levels in tlie gap, such as vacancies or transition metals. In addition, complexes, precipitates and extended defects are often associated witli recombination centres. The presence of grain boundaries, dislocation tangles and metallic precipitates in poly-Si photovoltaic devices are major factors which reduce tlieir efficiency. 

Germanium single crystals intended for electronic apphcations are usuaHy specified according to conductivity type, dopant, resistivity, orientation, and maximum dislocation density. They may be specified to be lineage-free unless the specified resistivity is below about 0.05 H-cm. Minority carrier lifetime and majority carrier mobHity are occasionaHy specified. 

Under Httle or no illumination,/ must be minimized for optimum performance. The factor B is 1.0 for pure diffusion current and approaches 2.0 as depletion and surface-mode currents become important. Generally, high crystal quality for long minority carrier lifetime and low surface-state density reduce the dark current density which is the sum of the diffusion, depletion, tunneling, and surface currents. The ZM product is typically measured at zero bias and is expressed as RM. The ideal photodiode noise current can be expressed as follows ... 

The variations in D and D and the much larger value for In show the limitations of a simple hydrogen atom model. Other elements, particularly transition metals, tend to introduce several deep levels in the energy gap. For example, gold introduces a donor level 0.54 eV below D and an acceptor level 0.35 eV above D in siHcon. Because such impurities are effective aids to the recombination of electrons and holes, they limit carrier lifetime. 

Cartiers can also be generated in a semiconductor by the absorption of light or injected into the semiconductor from ap—n or Schottky junction. In either case, as soon as the source is removed the density of those excess carriers begins to decrease exponentially with time. The time it takes for the density to be reduced to 1/ of the original value is defined as the carrier lifetime, T. For siUcon, T is typically in the microsecond range. 

Gamma radiation produces free carriers much as does visible light (36). High energy protons and electrons produce defects that reduce minority carrier lifetime according to equation 8 ... 

Band gaps of semiconductors carrier lifetimes shallow impurity or defect detection sample quality and structure... 

The PMC transient-potential diagrams and the equations derived for PMC transients clearly show that bending of an energy band significantly influences the charge carrier lifetime in semiconductor/electrolyte junctions and that an accurate interpretation of the kinetic meaning of such transients is only possible when the band bending is known and controlled. 

Carbon, made non-wetting by passage of current, 527 Carrier lifetime... 

The critical properties for optoelectronic materials are bandgap (operating range), carrier lifetime (efficiency), and resistivity (response time). To optimize these properties, it is necessary to have control of the process parameters such as ... 

Silicon wafer has been extensively used in the semiconductor industry. CMP of silicon is one of the key technologies to obtain a smooth, defect-free, and high reflecting silicon surfaces in microelectronic device patterning. Silicon surface qualities have a direct effect on physical properties, such as breakdown point, interface state, and minority carrier lifetime, etc. Cook et al. [54] considered the chemical processes involved in the polishing of glass and extended it to the polishing of silicon wafer. They presented the chemical process which occurs by the interaction of the silicon layer and the... 

Ion implantation generates many dangling bonds that form centers for nonradiative recombination. These centers decrease the carrier lifetime and compete effectively with radiative transitions. However, after hydrogenation, since hydrogen ties dangling bonds, the luminescence process becomes more efficient. Furthermore, since the 1.0-eV emission is obtained even before hydrogen is introduced, the new radiative center may be formed due to residual hydrogen in the c-Si that combines with the implantation-induced defects. 

Gold has been used for many years as a minority carrier lifeline controller in Si. As such, it is introduced in a controlled manner, usually by diffusion into transistor structures to decrease the carrier lifetime in the base region in order to increase the switching speed (Ravi, 1981). Conversely, the uncontrolled presence of Au is clearly deleterious to the performance of devices, both because of the increased recombination within the structure and the increase of pipe defects, which can cause shorting of the device. These pipe defects consist of clusters of metallic impurities at dislocations bounding epitaxial stacking faults. 

Palladium and platinum are also used as carrier lifetime controllers in Si. Pd creates an electron trap at Ec - 0.22 eV and a hole trap at Ev + 0.32 eV in Si (Chen and Milnes, 1980). Pt induces a single electron trap at Ec + 0.28 eV (Chen and Milnes, 1980). All of these levels are passivated by atomic hydrogen (Pearton and Haller, 1983) suggesting that hydrogen might be profitably used during silicide formation to passivate electrically active levels near the silicon-silicide interface. 

RJ Nelson and RG Sobers, Minority-carrier lifetime and internal quantum efficiency of surface-free GaAs, J. Appl. Phys., 49 6103-6108, 1978. 

Contamination of silicon wafers by heavy metals is a major cause of low yields in the manufacture of electronic devices. Concentrations in the order of 1011 cm-3 [Ha2] are sufficient to affect the device performance, because impurity atoms constitute recombination centers for minority carriers and thereby reduce their lifetime [Scl7]. In addition, precipitates caused by contaminants may affect gate oxide quality. Note that a contamination of 1011 cnT3 corresponds to a pinhead of iron (1 mm3) dissolved in a swimming pool of silicon (850 m3). Such minute contamination levels are far below the detection limit of the standard analytical techniques used in chemistry. The best way to detect such traces of contaminants is to measure the induced change in electronic properties itself, such as the oxide defect density or the minority carrier lifetime, respectively diffusion length. 

N. K. Dutta, Radiative Transitions in GaAs and Other III-V Compounds R. K. Ahrenkiel, Minority-Carrier Lifetime in III-V Semiconductors T. Furuta, High Field Minority Electron Transport in p-GaAs M. S. Lundstrom, Minority-Carrier Transport in III-V Semiconductors R A. Abram, Elfects of Heavy Doping and High Excitation on the Band Structure of GaAs D. Yevick and W. Bardyszewski, An Introduction to Non-Equilibrium Many-Body Analyses of Optical Processes in III-V Semiconductors... 

Parkinson P, Joyce HJ, Gao Q, Tan HH, Zhang X, Zon J, Jagadish C, Heiz LM, Johnston MB (2009) Carrier lifetime and mobility enhancement in nearly defect-free core-shell nanowires measured using time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy. Nano Lett 9 3349... 

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