High-Field Electron Transport in Nanoscale Group-III Nitride Devices

✍ Scribed by S.M. Komirenko; K.W. Kim; V.A. Kochelap; M.A. Stroscio

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 84 KB
• Volume: 228
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0370-1972
• DOI: 10.1002/1521-3951(200111)228:2<593::aid-pssb593>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

Focusing on the short-size group-III nitride heterostructures, we have developed a model which takes into account main features of transport of electrons injected into a polar semiconductor under high electric fields. The model is based on an exact analytical solution of Boltzmann transport equation. The electron velocity distribution over the device is analyzed at different fields and the basic characteristics of the high-field electron transport are obtained. The critical field for the runaway regime, when electron energies and velocities increase with distance which results in the average velocities higher than the peak velocity in bulk-like samples, is determined. We have found that the runaway electrons are characterized by a distribution function with population inversion. Different nitride-based small-size devices where this effect can have an impact on the device performance are considered.