Publications

Temperature dependence of carrier capture by defects in gallium arsenide

Wampler, William R.; Modine, N.A.

This report examines the temperature dependence of the capture rate of carriers by defects in gallium arsenide and compares two previously published theoretical treatments of this based on multi phonon emission (MPE). The objective is to reduce uncertainty in atomistic simulations of gain degradation in III-V HBTs from neutron irradiation. A major source of uncertainty in those simulations is poor knowledge of carrier capture rates, whose values can differ by several orders of magnitude between various defect types. Most of this variation is due to different dependence on temperature, which is closely related to the relaxation of the defect structure that occurs as a result of the change in charge state of the defect. The uncertainty in capture rate can therefore be greatly reduced by better knowledge of the defect relaxation.