$Auger-recombination

More information on the Physics: Auger recombination processes in semiconductor heterostructures

For devices with an extremely high carrier concentration the Auger process is the dominant recombination channel. The process involves three particles and therefore scales with the third power of the carrier densities. The phonon-assisted Auger recombination rate, which plays an important role especially at high carrier injection, respectively high doping levels, will be modeled in the program by the following equation:

\(R_{\text {Aug}} = ( C_{\text{n}} n + C_{\text{p}} p ) ( n p - n_{\text{i}}^2 )\)

where \(n\) is the electron density, \(p\) is the hole density and \(n_{\text{i}}\) is the intrinsic density.

$Auger-recombination                           optional
 material-name                   character     required
 number-of-parameters            integer       required
 n-C                             double        optional
 p-C                             double        optional
 n-bow-C                         double        optional
 p-bow-C                         double        optional
$end_Auger-recombination                       optional

Explanation of specifiers.

material-name

type:

character

presence:

required

value:

e.g. GaAs

Name of material to which this set of parameters applies. Name has to be listed in $default-materials.

number-of-parameters

type:

integer

presence:

required

value:

e.g. 2

Control parameter if the number of parameters provided is the same as demanded.

There are two sets of parameters, one for electrons (n) and one for holes (p).

n-C

type:

double

presence:

required

value:

e.g. 1.0e-30

unit:

[cm^6/s]

The \(C_{\text{n}}\) parameter for electrons as specified in the equation above. The order of magnitude is around \(10^{-30}\) [cm^6/s].

n-bow-C

type:

double

presence:

optional

value:

e.g. 0.0

unit:

[cm^6/s]

For ternary alloys there are also bowing parameters possible. n-bow-C = 0.0 means zero bowing, i.e. linear interpolation is used.

p-C

unit:

[cm^6/s]

Same as n-C but for holes.

p-bow-C

unit:

[cm^6/s]

Same as n-bow-C but for holes.

Example

!--------------------------------------------!
$Auger-recombination                         !
                                             !
 material-name        = Si                   !
 number-of-parameters = 2                    !
 n-C                  = 2.8e-31              ! [cm^6/s]
 p-C                  = 9.9e-31              ! [cm^6/s]
                                             !
 material-name        = GaAs                 !
 number-of-parameters = 2                    !
 n-C                  = 1.0e-30              ! [cm^6/s]
 p-C                  = 1.0e-30              ! [cm^6/s]
                                             !
 material-name        = Al(x)Ga(1-x)As       !
 number-of-parameters = 2                    !
 n-bow-C              = 0.0                  ! [cm^6/s]
 p-bow-C              = 0.0                  ! [cm^6/s]
                                             !
$end_Auger-recombination                     !
!--------------------------------------------!

There is also a keywords section in the input file for $Auger-recombination which you can use to overwrite default material parameters.