Auger-Meitner recombination in InP from first principles*

The direct-bandgap semiconductor indium phosphide (InP) is a popular material for optoelectronics. InP has been used in photodiodes, solar cells, transistors, and, most recently, quantum dot LEDs. The efficiency of InP as a light emitter is limited by non-radiative recombination processes such as Auger-Meitner recombination, in which the energy from an electron-hole recombination is transferred to another free carrier rather than being emitted as light. We apply first-principles methods to calculate the Auger-Meitner recombination rate in bulk InP, examining both the direct and the indirect, or phonon-assisted, recombination processes. We find that the hhe process, where the energy is transmitted to a hole, is stronger than the eeh process, where the energy is transmitted to an electron, in both the direct and phonon-assisted cases. We find the direct process is stronger than the phonon-assisted process for hhe AMR. However, we do find that the phonon-assisted mechanism plays a significant role in eeh AMR. This work provides an atomistic understanding of an important non-radiative loss mechanism in the common light-emitting material InP.