Surface recombination velocity and bulk lifetime in GaAs and InP

Graduation date: 1986An analytical expression is derived which allows the\ud bulk minority carrier recombination lifetime, t, and the\ud surface recombination velocity, S, to be extracted from a\ud single noncontact photoconductivity decay (PCD) measurement. This analytical expression is rather complex, but\ud can be reduced to a first order approximation. The first\ud order approximation is different, however, for GaAs and\ud InP than for Si, because of the large optical absorption\ud coefficients and small lifetimes associated with III-V\ud compound semiconductors. A comparison of the computer\ud simulation of the more complex expression and the first\ud order approximation reveals that the first order approximation model is accurate and is equally valid for both\ud n-type and p-type materials