Photoluminescent discovery of the impurity–band non-equilibrium current carriers condensation in Ge : Sb

Abstract

Kinetics and magnetic-field investigations of photoluminescent spectra at temperatures between 0.5 and 4.2 K in moderately heavily doped Ge : Sb ( n D∼10 16–10 17 cm −3, below the Mott transition n c=10 17 cm −3) revealed strong changes in the phase diagram of non-equilibrium current carriers compared to the case of pure or lightly doped Ge. The data show that due to the presence of narrow impurity bands at such doping concentrations the non-equilibrium impurity-band current carriers (D −) and free holes (h) condense into the D −H liquid surrounded by the gas phase of D −H-plasma.