Trapping and Recombination Properties Due to Trap Clustering

(Received 3 October 1996, revised 18 September 1997, accepted 22 September 1997)

Abstract
Nonequilibrium charge carriers' trapping and recombination processes in semiconductors and insulators are studied by means of the Monte Carlo method. The effect of trap clustering on trapping and recombination kinetics is considered. It is shown that such non homogeneous distribution of traps may significantly change some physical properties of a solid. The phenomena are analysed under various conditions. The influence of the temperature, the heating program and external electric field is studied. The calculations are performed for various trap parameters and various types of correlations between traps. Comparing isothermal and non isothermal spectra one can conclude that temperature dependent phenomena - such as thermoluminescence - are more sensitive to trap clustering than their isothermal counterparts - e.g. isothermal phosphorescence decay.