Abstract

We present a new method to study the ambipolar expansion of surface excited plasma in Si, based on the time resolved detection of the luminescence of a doped layer opposed to the excitation area.

This novel time-of-flight technique is used to study directly the carrier transport below and above the critical temperature T_c=23K for electron-hole droplet (EHD) condensation. Previously studies of the movement of the EHD in Si have been limited by the lack of time resolution¹. The same holds for the surface created plasma (EHP) above T_c for which a drift has been deduced indirectly by a line shape analysis of the EHP emission spectra².

© 1984 Optical Society of America