Minority carrier lifetime in mid-wavelength infrared InAs/InAsSb superlattices: Photon recycling and the role of radiative and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination mechanisms

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 105; no. 19
• Main Authors: Höglund, L., Ting, D. Z., Soibel, A., Fisher, A., Khoshakhlagh, A., Hill, C. J., Keo, S., Gunapala, S. D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 10-11-2014
• Subjects: ANTIMONY COMPOUNDS; Applied physics; ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS; Carrier density; CARRIER LIFETIME; Carrier recombination; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; INDIUM ARSENIDES; Minority carriers; PHOTONS; Radiative lifetime; Radiative recombination; RECOMBINATION; RECYCLING; SUPERLATTICES; Temperature dependence
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4902022

The influence of radiative recombination on the minority carrier lifetime in mid-wavelength InAs/InAsSb superlattices was investigated. From the lifetime's dependence on temperature, photon recycling, and carrier concentration, it was demonstrated that radiative lifetime dominates for carrier concentrations >5 × 1014 cm−3, and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination starts to dominate the minority carrier lifetime for carrier concentrations <5 × 1014 cm−3. An observed increase of the minority carrier lifetime with increasing superlattice thickness was attributed to photon recycling, and good agreement between measured and theoretical values of the photon recycling factor was obtained.