Temperature dependence of Auger recombination in gallium antimonide

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Abstract
Auger recombination in GaSb is of special interest because the energy gap Eg and the valence band splitting Delta are nearly equal. This fact favours the valence band Auger process which involves the split-off band and gives it a particular temperature dependence. It is found that this Auger process increases strongly at low temperatures, reaches a maximum and decreases weakly at high temperatures. However, the maximum is not at T=125K where Eg= Delta , but at T=95K where Eg is somewhat larger than Delta . This behaviour is confirmed by experiments. Consequences for GaSb lasers are discussed.