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Auger Effect in Semiconductors

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LETTERS T O T H E EDITOR
Auger Effect in Semiconductors

It was suggested in 1950 by Fan and by Pincherle in unpublished reports that the Auger effect may be an important cause of recombination of holes and electrons in semiconductors, i.e. that the energy liberated when an electron and a hole recombine may be transferred to another free carrier. T h e importance of this effect, considered as the converse of impact ionization, is now recognized (see for example Burstein, Picus and Sclar 1955) ; its characteristic is that, when It operates alone, the lifetime of minority carriers is inversely proportional to the square of the density of the majority carriers. Such a dependence was demonstrated first by Moss (1953) in impure P b S and more recently by Haynes and Hornbeck (1955) in silicon. T h e latter results will be compared with theory. As in this case the minority carriers recombine at deep traps, the theoretical treatment is simplified. Such traps may be thought of as foreign atoms, or ions, of radius R, only slightly perturbed by the surrounding periodic potential, and an atomic treatment may be used. T h e probability per unit time that an Auger transition takes place is given by

where T - is ~ the lifetime of the minority carriers due to the Auger effect, E is the depth of the traps and p ( E ) the density of states at energy E from the edge of the band occupied by the majority carriers p ( E )will be taken as given by the standard emression 47 l/-(zm):3 2E1 p ( E ) = -___ , where c'=47;R3,3 h3

(neglecting exchange). T h e suffixes i and f refer to the initial and final states. If one assumes that for all particles kR < 1 (where k is the crystal momentum) and takes spherically symmetrical wave functions, one finds Cil 7.1 = n 2 3 Ze4EE'2 R i p 2

p being the density of majority carriers. 'The numerical coefficient C depends

on the particular form chosen for the wave functions, and with the above hypotheses is of order I t is one or two orders of magnitude larger with p-type wave functions, depending on the k values. For the case under consideration E = 0 8 ev = 1 3 x erg ; thus, inserting numerical values, ~ , p =~ 8x CR-: sec cm+. T h e biggest uncertainty is In the value of R, as one does not know the nature of the foreign atom. From the values of the most common ionic or covalent radii, one may expect R to be included between 0 7 and 1.4 x lo-# cm. Thus considering also the range of variation of C, one finds the limits <7-,p2 < los3 sec cm-6. T h e experimental values are for n-type and for p-type silicon. T h e agreement may be

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Letters

to

the Editor

considered satisfactory in view of the many uncertainties in the theory. The effective mass m of the ejected particle may also differ from the free electron mass and constitutes another unkown factor. If recombination does not occur at a deep trap, but at a shallow one, or at a normal atom, the Auger lifetime is predicted to be smaller. This, according to Moss' results, would seem to occur in PbS. Thanks are extended to Dr. J. M. Radcliffe for profitable discussions, Acknowledgment is made to the Chief Scientist, %Tinistry of Supply and the Controller, H.M. Stationery Office, for permission to publish this letter. Radar Research Establishment, Malvern, Worcs. 31st January 1955.
Photoconductzczty, In the press

L. PINCHERLE.

BURSTEIN, E , PICUS, G S , and SCLAR, N , 1 9 5 5 , Proc. of the Atlantic Czty Confefereiice011

HAYNES, J. R , and HORSBECK, J. X , 1 9 5 5 , Phys Rea , 97, 3 1 1 .

MOSS, T S , 1 9 5 3 , Proc. Phys. Soc B, 66, 993.

An Improved Miniature Liquefier-Cryostat

Miniature liquefier-cryostats in which the experimental working space is contained in the liquefier have a number of special advantages for work at liquid hydrogen and liquid helium temperatures. I n the author's laboratory several such cryostats are in use of the type described by Chester and Jones. An improvement in design has recently been made in which the glass Dewar vessel containing the pre-coolant (liquid oxygen) surrounding the main vacuum case is replaced by a metal vessel of re-entrant type, which now serves also as the vacuum case. This is illustrated schematically in the figure for the case of a liquid hydrogen cryostat.

I
N E W TYPE
OLD TYPE

Woods metal
seal

V3cuum case a t 90'K

Glass Dewar

vessel