The Phonon-assisted Auger Effect in Semiconductors

Abstract

Some calculations on the effect of phonons on Auger recombination and impact ionization in semiconductors with simple bands are presented. It is shown that phonon-assisted Auger recombination will dominate the direct Auger process at low temperatures, and that in highly doped specimens the recombination rate due to the phonon-assisted Auger effect can be comparable with rates generally expected from other mechanisms. At low carrier temperatures the rate of phonon-assisted impact ionization will be greater than the direct impact ionization rate. However, phonon-assisted impact ionization may be difficult to detect because of other complications.