AUGER RECOMBINATION IN SILICON.

A calculation is made of the probability of the Auger recombination in n- and p-type silicon allowing for the reduction in the threshold energy due to Umklapp processes. Nondegenerate and degenerate silicon is considered. The temperature and carrier-density dependences of the nonequilibrium electron lifetime are analyzed. A high sensitivity of the Auger process to the degree of spin orientation of electrons and uniformity of the valley populations is established. In particular, a uniaxial compression along one of the crystallographic axes should reduce the lifetime in nondegenerate n-type Si by a factor of 3 and in degenerate samples by several orders of magnitude. It is shown that there is practically no direct Auger recombination in the n-type material. A comparison is made with the available experimental data.