Experimental study demonstrates surface barrier variations and recombination dynamics in etched germanium, highlighting charge trapping behavior in fast surface states.
Combined measurements have been made of surface recombination velocity, surface photo-voltage, and the modulation of surface conductance and surface recombination velocity by an external field, on etched germanium surfaces. Two samples, cut from an n-type and a p-type crystal of known body properties, were used, the samples being exposed to the Brattain-Bardeen cycle of gaseous ambients. The results are interpreted in terms of the properties of the surface space-charge region and of the fast surface states. It is found that the surface barrier height, measured with respect to the Fermi level, varies from −0.13 to +0.13 volts, and that the surface recombination velocity varies over about a factor of ten in this range. From the measurements, values are found for the dependence of charge trapped in fast surface states on barrier height and on the steady-state carrier concentration within the semiconductor.
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Brattain et al. (1956) studied this question.
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