Hot-electron drift velocity and hot-phonon decay in AlInN/AlN/GaN

• Published in: Physica status solidi. PSS-RRL. Rapid research letters Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 65 - 67
• Main Authors: Ardaravicˇius, L., Liberis, J., Kiprijanovicˇ, O., Matulionis, A., Wu, M., Morkoç, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin WILEY-VCH Verlag 01-02-2011; WILEY‐VCH Verlag; Wiley-VCH
• Subjects: AlInN/AlN/GaN; Aluminum nitride; Channels; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Density; Drift; drift velocity; Electric fields; Electron gas; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport phenomena in thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Gallium nitrides; high electric fields; High-field and nonlinear effects; hot electrons; hot-phonon decay; Nanostructure; Physics; semiconductor heterostructures; high electric fields; Semiconductor materials; Uniform field; Aluminium nitride; Two-dimensional electron gas; Gallium nitride; Aluminium Indium Nitrides Mixed; semiconductor heterostructures; Hot electrons; Electric field effects; High field; Electron mobility; AlInN/AlN/GaN; hot-phonon decay; IV characteristic; Drift velocity; Pulse current; Heterostructures; Drift mobility
• ISSN: 1862-6254; 1862-6270; 1862-6270
• DOI: 10.1002/pssr.201004502

A nanosecond‐pulsed current–voltage technique was applied to study hot‐electron transport along the two‐dimensional electron gas channel confined at a nominally undoped AlInN/AlN/GaN heterointerface. Hot‐electron drift velocity was deduced under the assumptions of uniform longitudinal electric field and field‐independent electron sheet density. At a fixed electric field strength, a resonance‐type non‐monotonous dependence of the velocity on the electron density was found in the investigated range from 1 to When the electric field increased from 20 kV/cm to 80 kV/cm, the peak velocity increased from ∼1.1 to cm/s, and the position of the resonance shifted from ∼1.1 to ∼1.2 respectively. The resonance position correlates with that for the fastest decay of hot phonons known from independent experiment. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
The frequency of operation of heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) is primarily determined by electron transport in a two‐dimensional electron gas (2DEG) subjected to a high electric field. This Letter reports on the first demonstration of the electric‐field‐tuned drift‐velocity resonance for gateless AlInN/AlN/GaN 2DEG channels deduced from experimental study of hot‐electron transport. The resonance position correlates with that for the fastest decay of hot phonons determined from independent experiments.