ENERGY AND MOMENTUM CONSERVATION DURING ENERGETIC-CARRIER GENERATION AND RECOMBINATION IN SILICON

The threshold energies of electrons and holes to generate electron-hol e pairs, and energetic holes and electrons, by the interband impact an d Auger mechanisms are computed analytically from energy and momentum conservation and found to be nearly equal to the minimum values based on energy conservation alone as was recognized by Kane as due to the i ntervalley impact generation pathway of electron-hole pairs. Experimen tal thresholds and energy dependency of the carrier generation efficie ncies appear to support the analytic theory. The experimental data are obtained using the nearly monoenergetic primary electrons from Fowler -Nordheim tunneling through a thin gate oxide to generate secondary el ectron-hole pairs in a crystalline silicon substrate, or secondary hot holes in the polysilicon gate or thin crystalline silicon surface lay er of p- and n-type channel silicon-gate/silicon-oxide/silicon field-e ffect transistors.