Universal size dependence of auger constants in direct- and indirect-gap semiconductor nanocrystals
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- U OF MINNESOTA
Three-dimensional (3D) spatial confinement of electronic wave functions in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) results in a significant enhancement of multi-electron phenomena including non radiative Auger recombination. In this process, a conduction-band electron recombines with a valence-band hole by transferring the recombination energy to a third carrier. Significant interest in Auger recombination in NCs has been stimulated by recent studies ofNC lasing, and generation-III photovoltaics enabled by carrier multiplication because in both of these prospective applications Auger recombination represents a dominant carrier-loss mechanism. Here, we perform a side-by-side comparison of Auger recombination rates in NCs of several different compositions including Ge, PbSe, InAs, and CdSe. We observe that the only factor, which has a significant effect on the measured recombination rates, is the size of the NCs but not the details of the material's electronic structure. Most surprisingly, comparable rates are measured for nanocrystals of directand indirect-gap semiconductor NCs despite a dramatic four-to-five orders of magnitude difference in respective bulk-semiconductor Auger constants. This unusual observation can be explained by confinement-induced relaxation of momentum conservation, which smears out the difference between direct- and indirect-gap materials.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 960796
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-08-07243; LA-UR-08-7243
- Journal Information:
- Nature Physics, Journal Name: Nature Physics
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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