Title: impact ionization
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - impact ionization
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08831
Status: current

Definition
Charge carrier generation by another charge carrier possessing a high kinetic energy, which knocks an electron out of the HOMO into the LUMO or still higher state so creating a new electron-hole pair.

Related Terms
- Charge carrier generation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08778
- LUMO: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08837
- charge carrier: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08775
- hole: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08826

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 36 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08831/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08831/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08831/xml

Citation: Citation: 'impact ionization' 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.08831
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-18T08:56:26+00:00