The effects of non-parabolic band structure on Auger transition rates in bulk semiconductors, quantum wells and quantum well wires

Abstract

A new approach to the problem of including non-parabolic band structure in calculations of Auger recombination rates is presented, giving results for quantum wells (QW) that are readily generalised to the cases of bulk semiconductors and quantum well wires (QWW). The band structure in the region of the excited Auger carrier is described using non-local pseudopotential band structure, whereas the other carriers, being close to their respective band edges, are described using parabolic bandstructure. The authors' approach differs from earlier work in that the energies and wavevectors of carriers close to the band edges are not neglected, but simple analytic results are obtained. Numerical results for the effects of non-parabolic band structure on bulk Auger transition rates in GaAs and GaSb, using the simple expressions derived in this paper, are found to be in good agreement with other calculations.