Title: charge carrier generation
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - charge carrier generation
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08778
Status: current

Definition
Process whereby charge carriers are created.

Notes
1) The charge carrier generation in the low-permittivity organic semiconductors usually proceeds in two steps: (i) formation of an exciton, and (ii) the exciton dissociation to mobile charge carriers.
2) The energy needed for the charge carrier generation can be gained from photon absorption (photogeneration), from thermal motion of lattice atoms (thermal generation), from an electric field discharge or from another charge carrier with sufficiently high kinetic energy (impact ionization).

Related Terms
- charge carriers: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08775
- exciton dissociation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08815
- impact ionization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08831
- lattice: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08835

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 18 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08778/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08778/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08778/xml

Citation: Citation: 'charge carrier generation' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08778
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Accessed: 2026-07-13T05:08:28+00:00