Optical Properties of n – type Silicon

Abstract

Photoconductivity (*pc ) and minority carrier lifetime(p) of n - type single crystal silicon were measured in the temperature range 300 -
418 K. The effect of varying sample current and light intensity (IL) on photoconductivity and carrier lifetime at room temperature (300 K)
were also investigated. Photoconductivity increases with the increase of light intensity and also with temperature. Variation of
photoconduction with light intensity is nonlinear and with temperature is linear. The value of lifetime of holes was found to be 1.29 ms.
Nearly constant value of carrier lifetime was observed with the variation of light intensity and temperature. .The diffusion length for holes
(Lp) was estimated to be 0.13 cm. The carrier concentration (n) and Hall mobility (μH) at room temperature were determined from the Hall
Effect measurement. The values of n and μH at room temperature were 7.85 x1014 cm -3 and 1344 cm2 / V.s respectively. The value of
lattice parameter a (Å) of Si was found to be 5.428 Å.