Effects of the photogenerated excess carriers on the thermal and elastic properties of n-type silicon excited with a modulated light source: Theoretical analysis

Abstract

The photogenerated excess carriers’ influence on the temperature distribution and thermoelastic photoacoustic signals of n-type silicon excited with a light source of modulated intensity is theoretically investigated for modulation frequencies ranging from 1 to 107 Hz. This is done by comparing the amplitude and the phase of the temperature and photoacoustic signals with and without the presence of excess carriers, giving special attention to the presence of characteristic peaks of the amplitude ratios and phase differences between the signals at the front and rear sample surfaces. It is shown that these peaks can be understood as the fingerprints of the excess carrier presence in the semiconductor. Furthermore, the strong dependence of the temperature distribution on the carrier recombination processes at the surfaces of thin samples is quantified and found to drastically change the thermoelastic component of the photoacoustic signal.