Decay of Excess Carriers in Semiconductors

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Abstract
A discussion is given of the nonlinear differential equations which govern the decay of excess carriers with arbitrary densities. The form of decay is explored for situations where the Fermi level is in the same half of the energy gap as the recombination level; criteria are established for both strong and weak trapping in addition to recombinative action. Analytic results are augmented and illustrated by numerically computed decay curves for a variety of circumstances. The separate solutions for holes and electrons are combined to show various kinds of behavior for photoconductive lifetime.