Hot electron effects in unipolar n-type submicron structures based on GaN, AlN and their ternary alloys

The authors present an analysis of impact ionisation (II) and related hot electron effects in submicron sized GaN, AlN and their ternary alloys, all of which can support very high field regimes, reaching a few megavolts per centimetre (MV/cm). The proposed high field transport methodology is based on the ensemble Monte Carlo technique, with all major scattering mechanisms incorporated. As a test-bed for understanding II and hot electron effects, an n⁺-n-n⁺ channel device is employed having a 0.1 μm thick n-region. The time evolution of the electron density along the device is seen to display oscillations in the unintentionally doped n-region, until steady state is established. The fermionic degeneracy effects are observed to be operational especially at high fields within the anode n⁺-region. For Al_xGa_1-xN-based systems, it can be noted that due to alloy scattering, carriers cannot acquire the velocities attained by the GaN and AlN counterparts. Finally, at very high fields II is shown to introduce a substantial energy loss mechanism for the energetic carriers that have just traversed the unintentionally doped n-region.