A 2015 perspective on the nature of the steady-state and transient electron transport within the wurtzite phases of gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, indium nitride, and zinc oxide: a critical and retrospective review

Abstract

Wide energy gap semiconductors are broadly recognized as promising materials for novel electronic and optoelectronic device applications. As informed device design requires a firm grasp of the material properties of the underlying electronic materials, the electron transport that occurs within the wide energy gap semiconductors has been the focus of considerable study over the years. In an effort to provide some perspective on this rapidly evolving and burgeoning field of research, we review analyzes of the electron transport within some wide energy gap semiconductors of current interest in this paper. In order to narrow the scope of this review, we will primarily focus on the electron transport that occurs within the wurtzite phases of gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, indium nitride, and zinc oxide in this review, these materials being of great current interest to the wide energy gap semiconductor community; indium nitride, while not a wide energy gap semiconductor in of itself, is included as it is often alloyed with other wide energy gap semiconductors, the resultant alloys being wide energy gap semiconductors themselves. The electron transport that occurs within zinc-blende gallium arsenide is also considered, albeit primarily for bench-marking purposes. Most of our discussion will focus on results obtained from our ensemble semi-classical three-valley Monte Carlo simulations of the electron transport within these materials, our results conforming with state-of-the-art wide energy gap semiconductor orthodoxy. A brief tutorial on the Monte Carlo electron transport simulation approach, this approach being used to generate the results presented herein, is also provided. Steady-state and transient electron transport results are presented. The evolution of the field, and a survey of the current literature, are also featured. We conclude our review by presenting some recent developments on the electron transport within these materials.

Ultrawide‐Bandgap Semiconductors: Research Opportunities and Challenges

“…e − : electrons 1.4 [77] Various 1.3 [77] 2.8; velocity overshoot due to short gate [77] -/1.1 @ 10 18…”

Lead-free piezoelectrics: V3+ to V5+ ion conversion promoting the performances of V-doped Zinc Oxide

“…Wurtzite semiconductors 1 2 3 are emerging as a promising alternative to the most common perovskite ferroelectric materials 4 for the development of new generation, lead-free, semiconductor-based MEMS/NEMS technologies. Nowadays, perovskite lead zirconate titanate (PZT) still represent the best engineering solution due to a good piezoelectric response and ease of integration into micro/nano devices 5 .…”

Ultrafast dynamics of carriers and phonons of photoinjected double-plasma in aluminium nitride

“…The calculations were performed in WZ AlN for photoinjected carriers with a concentration n = 10 18 cm −3 and an excess energy of 0.6 eV per pair gained from photon absorption. After Coulomb thermalization, the initial carrier tempe- Hole effective mass, m * h 3.53m0 [40] Band gap, E g 6.2 eV [51] Intervalley energy separation 0.7 eV [51] Lattice parameter, a 3.11Å [52] Lattice parameter, c 4.98Å [52] Static dielectric constant, ε 0 8.5 [53] High frequency dielectric constant, ε ∞ 4.77 [53] Optical phonon energy, ω0 99.2 meV [53] Mass density, ρ 3.23 g/cm 3 [54] Longitudinal sound velocity, v sl 10127 m/s [55] Transversal sound velocity, v st 6333 m/s [55] Acoustic deformation potential, E1 9.5 eV [55] Piezoelectric constant, h pz 0.92 C/m 2 [50] rature was approximately T c (0) = 2321 K. The thermal bath temperature considered was T 0 = 300 K, and the carrier scattering mechanisms considered in the numerical calculations included piezoelectric, deformation acoustic and polar optical (or Fröhlich's interaction). Table I summarizes the material parameters of the WZ AlN used in numerical calculations in this paper.…”