Long Lifetime State of Shallow Donor Centres for Silicon Based THz Sources

Impurity centres in high purity silicon with ionization energies 38.32 and 40.09meV are observed by photo-thermal ionization spectroscopy measurements. Their typical shallow donor characteristics are approved by good agreement with theoretic evaluation under varying magnetic fields. The 2p0 state lifetime of one donor centres are more than 3 times longer than that of phosphorus in the same silicon sample. Compared to phosphorus which has been already successfully exploited to produce silicon-based THz radiations, this shallow donor centre has a pronounced enhancement on lifetime and quality factor of population inversion level. Hence, silicon with this donor centre would be a potential excellent candidate to develop improved silicon-based THz sources.