Changes in minority-carrier lifetime in silicon and gallium arsenide resulting from irradiation with 22 and 40 MeV protons

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Beatty, M. E.
Copyright Year	1969
Abstract	A method is developed using an infrared light source to determine the minority carrier lifetime in the base material of a silicon and gallium arsenide P-N junction. This method is used to determine the lifetime of holes in N-type gallium arsenide, electrons in P-type silicon, and holes in N-type silicon. The effects of 22and 1+0-MeV proton irradiation on the minority carrier lifetime of these materials is investigated. The results of these investigations show that initial lifetimes in both types of silicon are on the order of 10“6 seconds, while for gallium arsenide it is on the order of 10“9 seconds initially. The radiation damage study depicts the gross differences in lifetime reduction between the three types of semiconductors. Gallium arsenide is much less sensitive to radiation damage with P-type silicon being less damaged than N-type. The final outcome of the investigation yields a powerful tool for investigating materials having low initial minority carrier life­ times such as gallium arsenide. The possibilities of using gallium arsenide instead of silicon for useful devices subjected to a radiation atmosphere is discussed.
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4751&context=etd
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19690009559.pdf
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article