Linear parameters of helical instability in thick silicon wafers at 300 K

Abstract

An analysis is performed on the dependence of the threshold electric field intensity (E_t) of helical instability of a semiconductor plasma on the magnetic induction and threshold frequency on E_t at a temperature of 300 K allowing for the form of the volt-ampere characteristic curve of the specimen. It is shown that when the field dependence of the charge carrier concentration in the specimen is taken into account, the variation in the rate of surface recombination and volume lifetime in the process of preparing the specimen, the variation in the path of the threshold curve, and the variation in the field dependence of the threshold frequency are satisfactorily described by helical instability theory for the case of a homogeneous plasma for n ≠ p and μ_n ≠ μ_p. The basic cause of incomplete matching of the experimental and theoretical curves is apparently due to not fulfilling the condition on homogeneity of the plasma and the electric field in the presence of the injection of charge carriers from the contacts.