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Field Quenching as Mechanism of Negative Differential Conductivity in Photoconducting CdS
Author(s) -
Dussel G. A.,
Böer K. W.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.19700390205
Subject(s) - quenching (fluorescence) , ionization , redistribution (election) , atomic physics , recombination , field (mathematics) , electric field , materials science , electron , physics , chemistry , optics , fluorescence , ion , biochemistry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , politics , political science , law , pure mathematics , gene
It is shown that the observed steep decrease of the electron density in photoconducting CdS(Al, Ag) with field in the range between 20 and 70 kV/cm is caused by a redistribution of holes from slow to fast recombination centres (field quenching). This redistribution is produced by field‐enhanced ionization of holes from Coulomb‐attractive slow recombination centers. The abrupt onset of the field quenching occurs because of the slow recombination traffic masking the fast center traffic until it becomes predominant. Competing infrared quenching reduces the masking effect and uncovers the earlier phases of field quenching already near 1 kV/cm (at 200 °K). Impact ionization and Zener extraction of holes from slow centers cannot explain the observed behavior. However, quantitative agreement between experiment and field quenching via field‐enhanced ionization can be reached.