Relaxation of post-illumination electric fields in strongly biased high-resistance structures with a single deep impurity level

Abstract

This paper examines how an electric field relaxes when a discontinuous large carrier-depleting voltage applied to high-resistance symmetric metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) and metal-insulator-semiconductor-insulator-metal (MISIM) structures having a single impurity level, and how its energy level ɛ _t=E _c−E _t and the tunneling transparency T _n,p of the metal-semiconductor or metal-insulator boundary affect the relaxation. It is shown that the relaxation of the field and the form of its steady-state distribution depend on the ratio of the time constant t _p in the majority-carrier (hole) region to the ionization time τ ⁻¹ _t =α _n (n _*+n ₁)+α _p (p _*+p ₁) of a deep trap in the bulk. This ratio determines the relative contributions of free ρ _p,n and bound charge dnsities ρ _t (where α _n,p is the coefficient for capture by an impurity, and p _*, n _*, p ₁, n ₁ are equilibrium concentrations and Shockley-Read constants in the bulk). For τ _t ≈(τ _t )_max≫t _p ,ρ _t ≫ it is found that ρ _p,n and ρ _t ≫ρ _p,n , which corresponds to a trap energy close to $\varepsilon _t = {{E_g } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{E_g } 2}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2} + kT\ln \sqrt {{{N_c \alpha _n } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{N_c \alpha _n } {(N_\upsilon \alpha _p )}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {(N_\upsilon \alpha _p )}}}$, independent of the value of T _n,p , decaying oscillations arise in the concentration distribution, bulk charge, and field appear in the bulk. The amplitude of these oscillations reaches a maximum at time t≈0.4τ _t. Decreasing the ratio α _p/α_n causes τ _t to deviate from (τ _t)_max. When this happens, the field no longer oscillates; instead, it increases with positive curvature in the cathode portion of the bulk. The quantity T _n,p determines the behavior of the field in the neighborhood of the anode. The value of (dE/dx)₀ is positive for MSM structures (T _n,p ≈1), and negative for MISIM structures (T _n,p ≈0). For transparencies close to a critical value T ⁰ _n,p , the field in the structure remains almost uniform over an impurity ionization time.