Tunneling recombination in silicon avalanche diodes

Distribution of the tunneling-recombination current over the space-charge region in a p-n junction was simulated mathematically. It is shown that the recombination rate saturates if the probability of tunneling is low. An expression for current-voltage characteristics of the p-n junction in the case of tunneling recombination is derived. The current-voltage characteristics of silicon avalanche diodes containing dislocations were studied experimentally. The results of numerical calculations based on the tunneling-recombination model are consistent with experimental data.