THE AMBIPOLAR AUGER COEFFICIENT - MEASURED TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE IN ELECTRON-IRRADIATED AND HIGHLY INJECTED N-TYPE SILICON

From foe-carrier absorption measurements of spatially and temporally r esolved excess carrier concentrations in the n-base of electron irradi ated, low doped, highly injected p-i-n type diodes, the effective ambi polar lifetime has been extracted with respect to different injection levels and temperatures. By measuring lifetimes up to injection levels of 3 x 10(17) cm(-3), the ambipolar Auger coefficient C-a and its tem perature dependence has been determined in the range of 300-420 K. In accordance with recent publications, the room temperature value of the Auger coefficient was found to be about three times higher than one o f the most commonly used values. Further on, the ambipolar Auger coeff icient is empirically estimated to vary with temperature as C-a(T)=1.1 x10(-30)(T/300)(1.8), were T is the absolute temperature. Also the amb ipolar diffusion coefficient has been investigated and compared with d ifferent models. The results are important and useful in simulation of high-injected silicon devices, i.e., solar cells and power devices. ( C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.