Modifying electron-phonon scattering rates in semiconductor quantum wells with thin AlAs layers

We have studied theoretically the electron-phonon scattering rates in GaAs/AlAs quantum wells which have additional thin AlAs layers in them using the dielectric continuum approach for the phonons. The confined and interface phonon modes and the intersubband electron phonon scattering rates of these structures have been calculated. The system with an additional AlAs layer is found to have intersubband electron scattering rates which are increased modestly as compared to those for the corresponding quantum well. These results show that scattering rates in general are expected to depend only weakly on the effects of system structure on the optical phonon spectra.     

Thermal diffuse scattering in sub-angstrom quantitative electron microscopy-phenomenon,effects and approaches

This paper reviews the recent progress in the following areas. (1) In quantitative high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, the theoretically calculated images usually give better contrast than the experimentally observed ones although all of the factors have been accounted for. This discrepancy is suggested due to thermal diffusely scattered (TDS) electrons, which were not included in the image calculation. The contribution from TDS electrons is especially important if the image resolution is approaching 0.1 nm and beyond with the introduction of Cs corrected microscopes. A more rigorous multislice theory has been developed to account for this effect. (2) We proved that the off-axis holography is an ideal energy filter that even filters away the contribution made by TDS electrons in the electron wave function, but conventional high-resolution microscopy do contain the contribution made by phonon scattered electrons. (3) In electron scattering, most of the existing dynamical theories have been developed under the first order diffuse scattering approximation, thus, they are restricted to cases where the lattice distortion is small. A formal dynamical theory is presented for calculating diffuse scattering with the inclusion of multiple diffuse scattering. By inclusion of a complex potential in dynamical calculation, a rigorous proof is given to show that the high order diffuse scattering are fully recovered in the calculations using the equation derived under the distorted wave Born approximation, and more importantly, the statistical time and structure averages over the distorted crystal lattices are evaluated analytically prior numerical calculation. This conclusion establishes the basis for expanding the applications of the existing theories. (4) The 'frozen lattice' model is a semi-classical approach for calculating electron diffuse scattering in crystals arisen from thermal vibration of crystal atoms. Based on a rigorous quantum mechanical phonon excitation theory, we have proved that the frozen lattice mode is an excellent approximation and no detectable error would be possible under normal experimental conditions.     

Negative differential conductivity in quantum well with complex potential profile for electron–phonon scattering

The effect of phonon scattering on electrical conductivity (EC) of 2D electron gas in quantum well (QW) systems with a complicated potential profile is described. Dependence of QW electrical conductivity on QW parameters (such as QW width, Fermi level positions etc.) when phonon scattering is employed has been calculated. NDC in EC when it varies with width of the QW has been found.     

Phonon heat transport in gallium arsenide

The lifetimes of quantum excitations are directly related to the electron and phonon energy linewidths of a particular scattering event. Using the versatile double time thermodynamic Green’s function approach based on many-body theory, an ab-initio formulation of relaxation times of various contributing processes has been investigated with newer understanding in terms of the linewidths of electrons and phonons. The energy linewidth is found to be an extremely sensitive quantity in the transport phenomena of crystalline solids as a collection of large number of scattering processes, namely, boundary scattering, impurity scattering, multiphonon scattering, interference scattering, electron–phonon processes and resonance scattering. The lattice thermal conductivities of three samples of GaAs have been analysed on the basis of modified Callaway model and a fairly good agreement between theory and experimental observations has been reported.     

Determination of the LO phonon energy by using electronic and optical methods in AlGaN/GaN

The longitudinal optical (LO) phonon energy in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures is determined from temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements and also from Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The Hall effect measurements on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown by MOCVD have been carried out as a function of temperature in the range 1.8-275 K at a fixed magnetic field. The IR and Raman spectroscopy measurements have been carried out at room temperature. The experimental data for the temperature dependence of the Hall mobility were compared with the calculated electron mobility. In the calculations of electron mobility, polar optical phonon scattering, ionized impurity scattering, background impurity scattering, interface roughness, piezoelectric scattering, acoustic phonon scattering and dislocation scattering were taken into account at all temperatures. The result is that at low temperatures interface roughness scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism and at high temperatures polar optical phonon scattering is dominant.     

Phonon scattering and thermal conductance properties in two coupled graphene nanoribbons modulated with bridge atoms

The phonon scattering and thermal conductance properties have been studied in two coupled graphene nanoribbons connected by different bridge atoms by using density functional theory in combination with non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The results show that a wide range of thermal conductance tuning can be realized by changing the chemical bond strength and atom mass of the bridge atoms. It is found that the chemical bond strength (bridge atom mass) plays the main role in phonon scattering at low (high) temperature. A simple equation is presented to describe the relationship among the thermal conductance, bridge atom, and temperature.     

Electronic thermal conductivity in suspended and supported bilayer graphene

Electronic thermal conductivity κ_e is investigated, using Boltzmann transport equation approach, in a suspended and supported bilayer graphene (BLG) as a function of temperature and electron concentration. The electron scattering due to screened charged impurity, short-range disorder and acoustic phonon via deformation potential are considered for both suspended and supported BLG. Additionally, scattering due to surface polar phonons, is considered in supported BLG. In suspended BLG, calculated κ_e is compared with the experimental data leaving the phonon thermal conductivity. It is emphasized that κ_e is important in samples with very high electron concentration and reduced phonon thermal conductivity. κ_e is found to be about two times smaller in supported BLG compared to that in suspended BLG. With the reduced extrinsic disorders, in principle, the intrinsic scattering by acoustic phonons can set a fundamental limit on possible intrinsic κ_e.     

Electron and phonon relaxation in metal films perturbed by a femtosecond laser pulse

A theoretical investigation of the electron and phonon time-dependent distributions in an Ag film subjected to a femtosecond laser pulse has been carried out. A system of two coupled time-dependent Boltzmann equations, describing electron and phonon dynamics, has been numerically solved. In the electron Boltzmann equation, electron–electron and electron–phonon collision integrals are considered together with a source term for laser perturbation. In the phonon Boltzmann equation, only electron–phonon collisions are considered, neglecting laser perturbation and phonon–phonon collisions. Screening of the interactions has been accounted for in both the electron–electron and the electron–phonon collisions. The results show the simultaneous electron and phonon time-dependent distributions from the initial non-equilibrium behaviour up to the establishment of a new final equilibrium condition. PACS 72.10.-d; 71.10.Ca; 63.20.Kr     

Phonon-assisted normal incidence intersubband absorption in semiconductor quantum wells

In the presence of a normally incident mid-IR pulsed laser field, phonon-assisted photon absorption by both intrasubband and intersubband phonon scattering of conduction electrons in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are predicted. The novel non-resonant and non-linear intersubband absorption is found by including the photon-induced phonon scattering process in a Boltzmann equation for phonon energies smaller than the energy separation between two electron subbands in the quantum well. The predicted phonon-assisted photon absorption by intersubband transitions of electrons from the first to the second subband is a unique feature in quantum-well systems and is expected to have a significant effect on the electron populations in both subbands.     

Tailoring electron–phonon interaction in nanostructures

Efficient design of optoelectronic devices based on electron intersubband transitions depends critically on the knowledge of the intersubband relaxation times which in turn, depends on electron scattering with LO and acoustic phonons. In this article the intersubband scattering time associated with electron–acoustic-phonon interaction has been discussed in terms of phonon mode quantization and phonon confinement with describing the acoustic phonon dispersion relation in detail by introducing the cut-off frequency for each mode. It has been shown that the quantization of acoustic phonon modes lead to an enhancement in electron–phonon scattering time in AlGaAs quantum well structures. Based on the presented model, a new tailoring method has presented to adjust the electron–phonon scattering time in intersubband-transition-based structures while keeping the electronic properties unaltered. Also, we illustrated that for a quantum well with subband energy separation of ∼30 meV, the intersubband scattering time with acoustic-phonon-assisted transitions could be tailored from ∼120 ps to increased value of ∼400 ps or reduced value of ∼45 ps by inserting a 1 nm-thickacoustically soft or hard layers, respectively, while keeping the same the initial energy separation.     

Mobility of two-dimensional electron gas in JFETS limited by polar-optic and impurity scattering

The theory of mobility of a two-dimentional electron gas in JFET structures limited by polar-optic phonon and impurity scattering is developed in this work. The energy level and the wave function of the lowest subband are obtained by a variational procedure. The mobility limited by polar-optic phonon scattering is obtained by solving the Boltzmann equation iteratively. The expression for the impurity scattering limited mobility is obtained by using the variational wave function. For numerical calculation, however, the electron gas is assumed to be strictly two-dimensional. It is found that for experimental range of impurity concentration in GaAs JFETs, impurity scattering is the dominant process even at 300K.     

Reprint of : The Boltzmann--Langevin approach: A simple quantum-mechanical derivation

We present a simple quantum-mechanical derivation of correlation function of Langevin sources in the semiclassical Boltzmann–Langevin equation. The specific case of electron–phonon scattering is considered. It is shown that the assumption of weak scattering leads to the Poisson nature of the scattering fluxes.     

The Boltzmann–Langevin approach: A simple quantum-mechanical derivation

We present a simple quantum-mechanical derivation of correlation function of Langevin sources in the semiclassical Boltzmann–Langevin equation. The specific case of electron–phonon scattering is considered. It is shown that the assumption of weak scattering leads to the Poisson nature of the scattering fluxes.     

Oscillatory magnetoconductivity of a two-dimensional electron system due to phonon scattering

Summary A quantum-statistical theory of magnetophonon resonance oscillations in two-dimensional systems has been developed, starting from the resolvent representation of Kubo's formula and its proper connected diagram expansion. Non-polar and polar optical-phonon scattering has been considered and the results show, as anticipated based on the physical considerations and experimental observations, conductivity oscillations as a function of magnetic field with the magnetophonon resonances occurring at the phonon frequencies {ie1539-1} {ie1539-2}=cyclotron frequency). Divergences occurring in the magnetoconductivity near the magnetophonon resonances are removed by using the full resolvent operator in the tetradic self-energy operator of an electron. These additional terms provide necessary damping of the magnetophonon resonance oscillations. The present results are also shown to be qualitatively similar to those obtained by others using quantum Boltzmann's equation approach to quantum transport theory.     

Simulation of Confined and Interface Phonons Scattering in Terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser

We have performed the calculation of resonant-phonon transition in a terahertz quantum cascade laser. The electron wavefunctions and energy levels are obtained by solving the Schroedinger and Poisson equations selfconsistently. The scattering rates of the confined, interface, and bulk phonons are calculated by using the Fermi golden rule. It has been shown that the confined phonon scattering is comparable to the interface phonon scattering and should be taken into consideration in the calculation.     

Contact and phonon scattering effects on quantum transport properties of carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors

We investigated the phonon scattering effects on the transport properties of carbon nanotube devices with micron-order lengths at room temperature, using the time-dependent wave-packet approach based on the Kubo formula within a tight-binding approximation. We studied the scattering effects of both the longitudinal acoustic and the optical phonons on the transport properties. The conductance of semiconducting nanotubes is decreased by the acoustic phonon, instead of the optical phonon. Furthermore, we clarified how the electron mobilities of the devices are affected by the acoustic phonon.     

Fuchs-Kliewer phonon spectrum of Co3O4(110) single crystal surfaces by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy

The Fuchs-Kliewer phonon spectrum of single crystal Co₃O₄(110) has been analyzed by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and the four fundamental phonon losses have been identified at 26.8, 47.5, 71.1 and 84.7 meV (216, 383, 573 and 683 cm⁻¹). This is the first HREELS study reported for an intrinsic spinel single-crystal surface with primary focus on the Fuchs-Kliewer phonon structure. The Co₃O₄ crystal is first characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), which establish the composition, cleanliness, and order of the (110) surface. Electron scattering is then used to obtain a series of well-resolved Fuchs-Kliewer phonon spectra over 2.25-14.25 eV incident electron energy range. The variation in phonon intensity with primary beam energy is shown to agree with that predicted by dielectric theory.     

Characterization of single-crystalline GaAs by imaging with ballistic phonons

Ballistic phonon propagation in single-crystalline [001]-oriented gallium arsenide has been studied using low-temperature scanning electron microscopy for imaging. Deviations in the phonon focusing pattern due to dispersion effects were found by comparing the phonon images to theoretical calculations of the long-wavelength limit. The phonon propagation behavior in, samples cut from differently prepared wafers has been investigated. For highly impure crystals we found a pronounced increase of the diffusive signal component at the expense of the ballistic one. Samples with varying dislocation densities also showed a sensitive dependence, of the ballistic phonon propagation on these crystal defects. For focusing calculations considering elastic scattering processes the diffusivity of the phonons could be determined as a function of the mean scattering length. We have found phonon mean free paths of 0.35 mm to 0.80 mm for the various GaAs crystals.     

Influence of surface scattering on the thermal properties of spatially confined GaN nanofilm

Gallium nitride(GaN), the notable representative of third generation semiconductors, has been widely applied to optoelectronic and microelectronic devices due to its excellent physical and chemical properties. In this paper, we investigate the surface scattering effect on the thermal properties of GaN nanofilms. The contribution of surface scattering to phonon transport is involved in solving a Boltzmann transport equation(BTE). The confined phonon properties of GaN nanofilms are calculated based on the elastic model. The theoretical results show that the surface scattering effect can modify the cross-plane phonon thermal conductivity of GaN nanostructures completely, resulting in the significant change of size effect on the conductivity in GaN nanofilm. Compared with the quantum confinement effect, the surface scattering leads to the order-of-magnitude reduction of the cross-plane thermal conductivity in GaN nanofilm. This work could be helpful for controlling the thermal properties of Ga N nanostructures in nanoelectronic devices through surface engineering.     

Electron mobility variance in the presence of an electric field: Electron–phonon field-induced tunnel scattering

The problem of electron mobility variance is discussed. It is established that in equilibrium semiconductors the mobility variance is infinite. It is revealed that the cause of the mobility variance infinity is the threshold of phonon emission. The electron–phonon interaction theory in the presence of an electric field is developed. A new mechanism of electron scattering, called electron–phonon field-induced tunnel (FIT) scattering, is observed. The effect of the electron–phonon FIT scattering is explained in terms of penetration of the electron wave function into the semiconductor band gap in the presence of an electric field. New and more general expressions for the electron–non-polar optical phonon scattering probability and relaxation time are obtained. The results show that FIT transitions have principle meaning for the mobility fluctuation theory: mobility variance becomes finite.