Effect of Shallow Trapping and the Thermal-Equilibrium Recombination Center Occupancy on Double-Injection Currents in Insulators

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Further understanding of the double-injection (DI) mechanism of current flow in insulators has been obtained from a theoretical treatment, largely based on a theory by Lampert, which allows an arbitrary thermal-equilibrium occupancy of the recombination centers and also shallow trapping of both carriers. The major new results are: (1) The existence of a negative-resistance region in the DI current-voltage characteristic is a consequence of difficulty in neutralizing the space charge due to one carrier type by transport of the other, i.e., of unequal lifetimes in the absence of trapping. (2) The threshold voltage for DI current flow with space-charge neutrality is infinite if the centers are not completely filled in the absence of injected carriers. The low-level regions of the characteristics for initially completely filled or initially partly filled centers are very different. (3) The relative "effectiveness" of hole and electron traps in storing carriers is an important factor because of the space charge which can be stored in them and which has to be neutralized by carriers of the other type.

This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit: