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Electron and Hole Transport in Bulk ZnO: A Full Band Monte Carlo Study

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Electron and hole transport in wurtzite phase ZnO is studied using an ensemble full band Monte Carlo method. The model includes an accurate description of the electronic structure obtained with the nonlocal pseudopotential method and numerically calculated impact ionization transition rates based on a wavevector-dependent dielectric function. Results of transport simulations at both low and high electric fields are presented. It is found that the low field electron mobility is close to 300 cm2 V−1 s−1 at room temperature, and the peak electron drift velocity is 2.2 × 107 cm/s at a field of 275 kV/cm. The determination of the ionization coefficients is affected by some uncertainties due to the incomplete knowledge of the high energy phonon scattering rates. Nevertheless, the present calculations of the ionization coefficients provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the impact ionization process.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this work was provided at Boston University by the ONR, through 2003 YIP Award No. N00014-03-1-0483 made to E. Bellotti, and at Politecnico di Torino by Regione Piemonte through the Bando regionale ricerca scientifica applicata “Nanodispositivi in semiconduttori tensionati: modelli e strumenti di simulazione.” Funding for the computational resources was provided through ONR DURIP Award No. N00014-05-1-03839.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ECE Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Francesco Bertazzi & Enrico Bellotti

  2. Dipartimento di Elettronica, Politecnico di Torino, I-10129, Torino, Italy

    Francesco Bertazzi & Michele Goano

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  1. Francesco Bertazzi
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  2. Michele Goano
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  3. Enrico Bellotti
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Correspondence to Michele Goano.

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Bertazzi, F., Goano, M. & Bellotti, E. Electron and Hole Transport in Bulk ZnO: A Full Band Monte Carlo Study. J. Electron. Mater. 36, 857–863 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-007-0111-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-007-0111-y

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