A MONTE-CARLO METHOD FOR STUDY OF AUGER RECOMBINATION EFFECTS IN SEMICONDUCTORS

A Monte Carlo method is proposed to study Auger recombination effects in semiconductors, which is general enough to study these effects in one (1D), two, or three dimensions, to accommodate arbitrary band structures, and to use either Boltzmann or Fermi-Dirac statistics. Auger recombination coefficients can readily be extracted from Monte Carlo calculation results, and distributions of each species of carriers that are involved in the recombination process are also obtained. Calculation results using this Monte Carlo method are compared against results obtained from previous work. In 1D cases, the Monte Carlo results agree very well with those previously obtained. It is also shown that results previously derived are applicable only to ID cases. This is because in higher dimensions, considerations of the higher degree of freedom, which are not incorporated in previous work, are necessary. All in all, the Monte Carlo method proposed in this article is expected to provide useful insight into Auger recombination effects, and directions for bandgap engineering towards design of material less prone to such effects.