Gold as a recombination centre in silicon

Abstract The recombination of holes and electrons through gold centres in silicon involves two recombination energy levels, a donor and an acceptor, and four capture probabilities. By comparing the low-level photoconductivity decay of gold-doped silicon samples with a theoretical expression derived from a transient solution of the recombination problem, we have determined the following values for these probabilities: Acceptor level Donor level α n = 1·65 × 10 −9 cm 3 /sec β n = 6·3 × 10 −8 cm 3 /sec α p = 1·15 × 10 −7 cm 3 /sec β p = 2·4 × 10 −8 cm 3 /sec These results have been used to calculate, under high-level conditions, minority carrier lifetimes, which have then been compared with such lifetimes determined empirically from diode storage time measurements. Good agreement has been found, indicating that diode storage times can be successfully predicted.