Laser induced impact ionization in semiconductors: A Monte Carlo study for silicon

Abstract

Monte Carlo computer simulations are carried out to study impact ionization due to a sinusoidal field present in high-power laser pulses. As an application we study the impact ionization coefficient, α, for electrons in silicon as a function of the field frequency, pulse width, and the rms value of the field. In all cases we stay below the frequency values where band-to-band absorption would create electron-hole pairs. As is the case for constant (dc) fields, log α is found to be linear with field strength. For fields oscillating at frequencies much below the inverse of the carrier scattering rate, the impact ionization coefficient is found to have the same value as in the constant field case with the rms field replacing the dc value. At higher frequencies the impact ionization rate decreases. The dependence of α on field frequency and pulse width is studied.