This work reports on measurements of the Auger recombination coefficients in silicon wafers with pump-probe thermoreflectance techniques operating at two different excitation rates: 250 kHz (low repetition rate) and 80 MHz (high repetition rate). The different excitation frequencies give rise to different thermoreflectance signals in the Si samples, which is ascribed to the excited number density in the conduction band. In the low repetition rate case, the excited carriers recombine via Auger processes before the next pump excitation is absorbed. However, in the high repetition rate case, the rate in which the pump excitations are absorbed at the sample surface is higher than the Auger recombination rate, indicating that the excited carrier densities in the high repetition rate experiments are much higher than in the low repetition rate measurements even though the pump fluences are comparable. This is ascribed to pulse accumulation in the high repetition rate measurements, and is quantified with rate equation and thermoreflectance models fit to the experimental data. Comparing the data taken at the two different excitation modulations gives insight into the excited carrier density when recombination rate are on the same order as excitation frequencies.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
1 March 2010
Research Article|
March 05 2010
Excitation rate dependence of Auger recombination in silicon
Patrick E. Hopkins;
Patrick E. Hopkins
a)
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Edward V. Barnat;
Edward V. Barnat
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Jose L. Cruz-Campa;
Jose L. Cruz-Campa
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Robert K. Grubbs;
Robert K. Grubbs
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Murat Okandan;
Murat Okandan
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Gregory N. Nielson
Gregory N. Nielson
Sandia National Laboratories
, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: pehopki@sandia.gov.
J. Appl. Phys. 107, 053713 (2010)
Article history
Received:
October 14 2009
Accepted:
January 12 2010
Citation
Patrick E. Hopkins, Edward V. Barnat, Jose L. Cruz-Campa, Robert K. Grubbs, Murat Okandan, Gregory N. Nielson; Excitation rate dependence of Auger recombination in silicon. J. Appl. Phys. 1 March 2010; 107 (5): 053713. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3309759
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionPay-Per-View Access
$40.00