Lifetimes of Current Carriers in InP

Abstract The lifetimes of electrons and holes in p‐ and n‐type InP are measured in the temperature range 78 to 300°K. Possible mechanisms for the capture and recombination with participation of several trapping centres: E = 0.17 eV, E = 0.04 to 0.06 eV, E = 0.10 eV, are suggested. The considerable effect of trapping at low temperatures is noted. It is found that for low‐resistivity p‐type samples the recombination centres d2 and the trapping centres f1, and for high‐resistivity samples the centres d2 and f2 play the dominant role. As result of effective trapping in n‐type as well as in p‐type InP the lifetimes of electrons and holes differ much at low temperatures.