Observation of rapid direct charge transfer between deep defects in silicon

Abstract

Direct electron transfer is observed between two deep defects in silicon upon selective laser excitation with an energy lower than the band gap. This transfer is shown to be very efficient when one of the defects is a pseudodonor and the other is a dominant recombination center. It is argued that such processes must in general be considered when modeling capture and recombination processes of charge carriers in semiconductors.