Simultaneous measurement of hole lifetime, hole mobility and bandgap narrowing in heavily doped n-type silicon

The hole diffusion length, hole lifetime, hole mobility, and hole equilibrium concentration in epitaxial heavily phosphorus-doped silicon have been measured by a combination of steady-state and transient techniques. Steady state measurements were performed on bipolar transistors in which the base was epitaxially grown. The transient measurement relied on the observation of the decay of the photoluminescence radiation after laser excitation. Significant findings are: 1) the hole mobility is about a factor of two larger in heavily doped n-type silicon than in p-type silicon; 2) the apparent bandgap narrowing is smaller than previously thought, with a value of about 90 meV at a doping level of 10²⁰cm^-3.