The Influence of Field-Induced Variation in Majority Carrier Lifetime Caused by Photostimulated Heating on Impurity Photoconductivity of Compensated Semiconductors with Exclusion
Abstract
The influence is theoretically studied of impurity illumination generated current carriers of both signs on the characteristics of the exclusion effect in a compensated semiconductor with deep centres. The action is considered under the conditions of photostimulated heating causing saturation of drift velocity and a decreased lifetime of the majority carriers. The influence is shown of the ifeld-induced decrease in lifetime on the distribution of the carrier concentration and field in the semiconductor, their values at the excluding contact, the depletion layer length, the current-voltage characteristic (CVC), and the impurity photoconductivity (IPC). An explanation is first offered for a CVC including three regions (ohmic, sublinear with current saturation, and the second linear region in which the IPC is independent of the applied field) experimentally observed for an n+-n-n+ structure made of germanium with antimony impurity compensated with copper. [Russian Text Ignored].