Effects of excess carriers on charged defect concentrations in wide bandgap semiconductors

Alberi, Kirstin; Scarpulla, Michael A.

doi:10.1063/1.5010945

Title: Effects of excess carriers on charged defect concentrations in wide bandgap semiconductors

Journal Article · Tue May 08 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5010945· OSTI ID:1440312

Alberi, Kirstin ^[1];

^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

Unintentional doping and doping limits in semiconductors are typically caused by compensating defects with low formation energies. Since the formation enthalpy of a charged defect depends linearly on the Fermi level, doping limits can be especially pronounced in wide bandgap semiconductors where the Fermi level can vary substantially. Introduction of non-equilibrium carrier concentrations during growth or processing alters the chemical potentials of band carriers and allows populations of charged defects to be modified in ways impossible at thermal equilibrium. We demonstrate that in the presence of excess carriers, the rates of carrier capture and emission involving a defect charge transition level determine the admixture of electron and hole quasi-Fermi levels involved in the formation enthalpy of non-zero charge defect states. To understand the range of possible responses, we investigate the behavior of a single donor-like defect as functions of extrinsic doping and charge transition level energy. We find that that excess carriers will increase the formation enthalpy of compensating defects for most values of the charge transition level in the bandgap. Thus, it may be possible to use non-equilibrium carrier concentrations to overcome limitations on doping imposed by native defects. Cases also exist in which the concentration of defects with the same charge polarity as the majority dopant is either left unchanged or actually increases. This surprising effect arises when emission rates are suppressed relative to the capture rates and is most pronounced in wide bandgap semiconductors. We provide guidelines for carrying out experimental tests of this model.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; EE0004946

OSTI ID:: 1440312

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1436390

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-71463; TRN: US1900714

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 18; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 6 works

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