Surface recombination velocity in a silicon optical waveguide

Measurements of the varying infrared absorption by free carriers in a silicon waveguide during intermittent electron bombardment are used to study the surface recombination velocitys. The same values for s are obtained for heat-treated and untreated samples, which supports the theory that electron beam irradiation in itself has a dehydrating effect. Other experiments show thats is not dependent on the energy of the impinging electrons in the range 16–23 keV. Finally, the temperature dependence ofs in gold-doped silicon is estimated. Ifs is written in the forms=s ₀(293/T)^x,x is found to be 2.1±0.2 in the temperature interval 261K≦T≦309K.