Electron-hole recombination via a simplified cascade process

Abstract

The normal Shockley-Read process of electron-hole recombination is generalised by allowing capture into an effective excited state of a trap which represents all its excited states. The familiar cascade capture is thus truncated and converted into an electron-hole recombination model which may be called truncated cascade recombination. The model differs from earlier work by the present authors in allowing direct capture also into the ground state, a process which is important at elevated temperatures. The earlier work considered also excited hole states, but these are omitted here for reasons of simplicity. The new model is discussed with a view to interpreting the dependence of emission and capture rates on temperature and the dependence of the steady-state recombination lifetime on injection.