Observation of the Recombination Radiation from Silicon p-n Junction

The recombination radiation from forward biased p-n junctions of silicon is visualized by use of an infrared image converter tube. It is found from the pattern of the radiation at the junctions that the diffusion length of minority carriers is structure sensitive, especially at 80°K. The life time estimated from the decay time of the pulsed radiation agrees fairly well with that measured by the photoconductivity decay method.