Free carrier absorption in quantizing magnetic fields: Nonpolar optical phonon scattering

A quantum theory of free carrier absorption in nondegenerate semiconductors and in strong magnetic fields which was previously developed to treat the case when acoustic phonon scattering dominates the free carrier absorption process [1] is extended to treat the case when nonpolar optical scattering is important. When the electromagnetic radiation field is polarized parallel to the direction of the applied magnetic field, results are obtained which are similar to those when acoustic phonon scattering is dominant. The free carrier absorption is an oscillatory function of the magnetic field which on the average increases in magnitude with the magnetic field. However, more structure in the free carrier absorption occurs when nonpolar optical phonon scattering dominates. This is due to the fact that there are two periods in the oscillatory magnetic field dependence associated with the emission or the absorption of optical phonons during the intraband transitions. When the cyclotron frequency exceeds the sum of the photon and optical phonon frequencies, i.e. ω_c > θ + ω_o, the free carrier absorption is predicted to increase linearly with magnetic field when ?ω_c? k_BT. The magnetic field dependence of the free carrier absorption can be explained in terms of phonon-assisted transitions between the various Landau levels in a band involving the emission and absorption of optical phonons.     

Transport properties of photo-excited carriers in slightly compensated Hg0.785Cd0.215Te

Photo-Hall measurements are presented for slightly compensated n-type Hg_0.785Cd_0.215Te at 4 K where the electron mobility is limited by charged scattering centers. Using a 10.6 μm laser as the optical source, we observe that the electron mobility passes through a maximum as a function of photo-excited carrier density. Mobility expressions based on the Kane-band model are modified to incorporate neutralization of charged scattering centers by photo-excited carriers. Calculated mobility values are found to be in satisfactory agreement with the data. The observed decrease in mobility for high carrier densities is attributed to electron-hole scattering. The mobility enhancement at lower carrier densities is explained in terms of neutralization of charged acceptors.     

The mobility of free carriers in PbSe crystals

The free carrier mobility in PbSe varies strongly with temperature and carrier concentration. The electrical properties of single crystals of PbSe with carrier concentrations ranging from 10¹⁶ to 10²⁰ cm^?3 have been measured between 0·3 and 800K. The extrinsic mobility is governed by acoustical phonon scattering. An anomalous behaviour of the mobility at low temperatures and low concentrations was observed although no ionized impurities were present.     

Hall mobility of undoped n-type conducting strontium titanate single crystals between 19 K and 1373 K

The Hall mobility of undoped n-type conducting SrTiO₃ single crystals was investigated in a temperature range between 19 and 1373 K. Field calculations were used to estimate the influence of sample shape and electrode geometry on the measured values. Between 19 and 353 K samples, which were quenched under reducing conditions, show an impurity scattering behavior at low temperature and high carrier concentrations and a phonon scattering mechanism at room temperature. In this temperature region, no carrier-density-dependent mobility was found. In conjunction with measurements of the mass difference before and after reoxidation, the oxygen deficiency and the oxygen vacancy concentration could be determined. The oxygen vacancies proved to be singly ionized. Above 873 K, Hall mobility and carrier concentration had been determined as a function of both oxygen partial pressure and temperature for the first time. In this temperature range the mobility does not depend on carrier concentration, but shows aT ^–1.5 dependence.     

纤锌矿相GaN空穴输运特性的Monte Carlo模拟研究

用全带多粒子Monte Carlo方法模拟纤锌矿相(Wurtzite)GaN空穴输运特性的结果. 用经验赝势法计算得到能带结构数据. 模拟包含了声学声子散射，光学声子散射，极性光学声子散射，压电散射，电离杂质散射及带间散射等散射机理. 计算得到了空穴沿3个主要对称方向上的空穴平均漂移速度和平均能量与电场强度的关系曲线，室温下漂移速度呈现饱和特性. 在所研究的电场范围内，最大平均漂移速度约为6×10⁶cm s^-1，最大空穴平均能量约为0.12eV, 这些值均比电子的相应参数低很多. 还给出了空穴的扩散迁移率与杂质浓度关系的模拟结果. 关键词： 蒙特卡罗 氮化镓 输运特性 能带结构     

Electron scattering in CdxHg1−xTe

Experimental studies of the electron mobility in Cdinx,Hgin1?xTe/0x/0.33, 10¹⁵ cm^?3n10¹⁸ cm^?3, 4.2 K ?T ?300 K/and of the thermoelectric power of intrinsic HgTe from 300 K down to 5 K are reported. These results are interpreted in terms of calculations based on the variational solution of the Boltzmann equation. Analysis shows that in pure samples at low temperatures, the electron mobility is limited by ionized donors, heavy holes, and, in some cases, unresolved defect scattering. In the doped samples with x0̆.1, disorder scattering also becomes significant. Polar-optical phonon scattering is dominant at high temperatures. The sharp decrease of mobility in the region 20–40 K, which occurs for pure samples with x0̌.14, is explained by interband optical phonon scattering. The thermoelectric power of intrinsic HgTe is strongly affected by phonon-drag of holes at low temperatures and by electron-electron scattering at high temperatures.     

Kinks and d-waves from phonons: The intermediate coupling story

I present results from an approach that extends the Eliashberg theory by systematic expansion in the vertex function; an essential extension at large phonon frequencies, even for weak coupling. In order to deal with computationally expensive double sums over momenta, a dynamical cluster approximation (DCA) approach is used to incorporate momentum dependence into the Eliashberg equations. First, I consider the effects of introducing partial momentum dependence on the standard Eliashberg theory using a quasi-local approximation; which I use to demonstrate that it is essential to include corrections beyond the standard theory when investigating d-wave states. Using the extended theory with vertex corrections, I compute electron and phonon spectral functions. A kink in the electronic dispersion is found in the normal state along the major symmetry directions, similar to that found in photo-emission from cuprates. The phonon spectral function shows that for weak coupling Wλ<ω₀, the dispersion for phonons has weak momentum dependence, with consequences for the theory of optical phonon mediated d-wave superconductivity, which is shown to be 2nd order in λ. In particular, examination of the order parameter vs. filling shows that vertex corrections lead to d-wave superconductivity mediated via simple optical phonons. I map out the order parameters in detail, showing that there is significant induced anisotropy in the superconducting pairing in quasi-2D systems.     

Nonohmic behavior of semiconductors in a quantizing magnetic field

We have investigated the nonohmic resistivity of a nondegenerate semiconductor in quantizing magnetic fields for the case where acoustic phonons are the dominant scattering mechanism. The type of I-V characteristics found depends upon which of three mechanism are dominant. The three mechanisms are due to collisional broadening, inelasticities due to the finite phonon energy and phonon drag. When collistion broadening is important, the nonlinearities in the current voltage characteristic arise only from electron heating, while when the inelasticities are dominant, there is also an intrinsic nonlinearity in the characteristic. Finally, when phonon drag is dominant, high frequency acoustoelectric amplification will occur when the Hall velocity exceeds the sound velocity, i.e. V_H > S.For the case where inelasticities dominate, a region of negative differential resistance is obtained that should persist even when there is considerable optical phonon scattering.     

Reprint of "Calculation of the temperature dependence of the vertical and horizontal mobilities in InAs/GaSb superlattices"

In order to limit cooling requirements, it is important to operate superlattice devices such as infrared detectors at the highest possible temperatures consistent with maintaining satisfactory figures of merit regarding signal and noise. One of the characteristics governing the device performance is vertical carrier mobility, although only horizontal mobilities are routinely measured. Recently, we calculated low-temperature vertical and horizontal mobilities, as limited by interface roughness scattering, for type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices as a function of SL dimensions and the degree of roughness. We found that the horizontal mobility was a double-valued function of the roughness correlation length, Λ. Here, we show that the indeterminacy of Λ can be overcome by comparing the temperature dependence of the calculated and measured mobilities; hence, we extend the calculation to higher temperatures. While the scattering mechanism itself is temperature independent, the band structure and the carrier distribution are temperature-dependent. As a function of temperature, we find that as a function of the correlation length, mobilities can increase, decrease, or remain constant. This behavior is explained on the basis of the physics of the problem.     

“n” type semiconductivity in natural single crystals of FeS2 (pyrite)

Natural single crystals of pyrite from Spanish mines appear to be “n” type semiconductors. Resistivity, Hall coefficient and Hall mobility have been studied as a function of temperature. An acoustic phonon scattering mechanism is operative in the neighbourhood of room temperature. Results on the influence of the electrical contacts and chemical decomposition of the samples on the intrinsic properties are also included.     

Two-dimensional electronic transport in In0.53Ga0.47As quantum Wells

Transport properties of the electrons itinerant two dimensionality in a square quantum well of In_0.53Ga_0.47As are studied in the framework of Fermi-Dirac statistics including the relevant scattering mechanisms. An iterative solution of the Boltzmann equation shows that the ohmic mobility is controlled by LO phonon scattering at room temperature, but below 130 K alloy scattering is predominant. The calculated mobilities with a suitable value of the alloy scattering potential agree with the experimental results over a range of lattice temperature. For lattice temperatures below 25 K where the carrier energy loss is governed by the deformation potential acoustic scattering, the warm electron coefficient is found to be negative. Its magnitude decreases with increasing lattice temperature and is greater for larger channel widths. Values of the small-signal AC mobility of hot electrons at a lattice temperature of 4.2 K are obtained for different sheet carrier densities and channel widths. Cut-off frequencies around 100 GHz are indicated.Dedicated to H.-J. Queisser on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Carrier mobility and relaxation time in BiCuSeO

To obtain thermoelectric properties of materials, a constant relaxation time approximation is generally employed. By employing deformation potential theory, a derivation of relaxation time and carrier mobility of BiCuSeO system is proposed combining with density functional theory calculation. And the inter-valley scattering, acoustic phonon scattering and ionized impurity scattering were considered in the model. The calculated values of relaxation time and carrier mobility in BiCuSeO are in good agreement with the results of experiment. The results suggest that acoustic phonon scattering is in dominant and the constant relaxation time approximation is reasonable in lightly doped sample, and the ionized impurity scattering play a significant role in heavily doped system.     

Effects of electronic state modulation on the high-frequency response characteristics of GaAs quantum wells

The effect of electronic-state modulation on the high frequency response of GaAs quantum well with thin inserted barrier layer is studied. The carrier scattering by polar optic phonons, acoustic deformation potential and background ionized impurities are incorporated in the present calculations considering the carrier distribution to be heated drifted Fermi-Dirac distribution. Modified phonon spectra and modulated electron wave function give different values of form factor compared to bulk mode phonon. Mobility is found to be enhanced on insertion of thin layer inside the quantum well. The ac mobility and the phase lag increases with the increase in both the channel width and the 2D carrier concentration. Cutoff frequency, where ac mobility drops down to 0.707 of its low frequency value, is observed to be enhanced reflecting better high frequency response.     

Resonant Raman scattering from screened longitudinal optical phonons in EuTe

Forbidden resonant Raman scattering from screened longitudinal optical, LO, phonons has been observed in the back-reflection geometry from n-type EuTe at 2°K. The Raman shift increased with increasing excitation frequency but was always between the LO and TO phonon frequencies. This effect is explained in terms of a varying ‘effective’ carrier concentration as a function of laser penetration depth through the surface depletion layer in the situation of large phonon wave vector. Conduction band and lattice parameters have been calculated from infrared Reststrahlen and plasma edge measurements.     

High field transport properties in a GaN/AlGaN heterostructure

The drift velocity, electron temperature, electron energy and momentum loss rates of a two-dimensional electron gas are calculated in a GaN/AlGaN heterojunction (HJ) at high electric fields employing the energy and momentum balance technique, assuming the drifted Fermi–Dirac (F–D) distribution function for electrons. Besides the conventional scattering mechanisms, roughness induced new scattering mechanisms such as misfit piezoelectric and misfit deformation potential scatterings are considered in momentum relaxation. Energy loss rates due to acoustic phonons and polar optical phonon scattering with hot phonon effect are considered. The calculated drift velocity, electron temperature and energy loss rate are compared with the experimental data and a good agreement is obtained. The hot phonon effect is found to reduce the drift velocity, energy and momentum loss rates, whereas it enhances the electron temperature. Also the effect of using drifted F–D distribution, due to high carrier density in GaN/AlGaN HJs, contrary to the drifted Maxwellian distribution function used in the earlier calculations, is brought out.     

Resonant Raman scattering in nanostructures with InGaAs/AlAs quantum dots

Raman scattering by optical phonons in In_xGa_{1 ? x} As/AlAs nanostructures with quantum dots has been studied experimentally for compositions corresponding to x = 0.3?1 under out-resonance conditions. Features due to scattering by GaAs-and InAs-like optical phonons in quantum dots have been detected, and the phonon frequencies have been determined as a function of the dot composition. With increasing excitation energy, a red shift is observed in the frequency of the GaAs-like phonon in quantum dots, which testifies to Raman scattering selective by the size of quantum dots. Under resonant conditions, multiphonon light scattering by optical and interface phonons is observed up to the third order, including overtones of the first-order phonons of InGaAs and AlAs materials and their combinations.     

Effect of substrate bias on the mobility and scattering time of electrons in si inversion layers

The dependence of the electron mobility and scattering time on the thickness of the inversion layer and its carrier concentration has been investigated. Electrons on (100) and (111) surfaces were studied. When only the lowest subband was occupied a linear dependence of the scattering time on the inversion layer thickness was observed. For fixed inversion layer thickness the scattering time decreased as the carrier concentration was increased. The carrier mobility appears to be limited by phonon and/or rigid core scattering processes. The effect of reverse substrate bias on the field effect mobility is similar to a change in the acceptor concentration of the substrate.     

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.     

On the mixed nature of the 740 cm band in wurtzite GaN films: A polarized Raman scattering investigation

A detailed study of the polarized Raman scattering of wurtzite GaN films is presented, focusing on the nature of the band centered at 740 cm⁻¹ observed in the X(Z, Z)X configuration. The origin of this band is ascribed to the mixed contribution of the A₁ and E₁ longitudinal phonon modes coupled with the free carrier excitation. The spectral profile of the 740 cm⁻¹ Raman band has been successfully reconstructed through a linear combination of the A₁-E₁ longitudinal phonon plasmon-coupled modes, leading to a free carrier concentration in good agreement with Hall effect measurements.     

Relaxation processes and mobility of electrons in a semiconductor quantum well with the modified Pöschl-teller confining potential

Relaxation processes and mobility of electrons in a semiconductor quantum well are studied. The modified Pöschl-Teller potential is used as a confining potential. Scattering rates due to impurity ions, acoustic and piezoacoustic phonons are calculated taking into account the screening of scattering potentials by charge carriers. It is shown that when degenerate electrons are scattered by acoustic phonons, the dependence of scattering rate on electron wave number ν_ac(k) is almost linear. At small k, the acoustic phonon piezoelectric scattering rate of degenerate electrons increases with k, and then it decreases slightly when k > 8 × 10⁷ m⁻¹. The ionized impurity scattering rate of degenerate electrons does not depend on temperature, is directly proportional to the electron density, and decreases with increasing k. Dependences of electron mobility on surface ion density and temperature are studied. It is shown that in the case of non-degenerate or slightly degenerate electron gas, a maximum appears in the temperature dependence of the mobility, and the screening effect is negligible. The screening significantly increases the mobility of electrons in the case of high degeneration. Obtained results are applied to GaAs-based quantum wells.