Ab initiostudy of the effects of pressure and strain on electron-phonon coupling in IV and III-V semiconductors

Abstract

In this work, we examine the pressure and biaxial tensile strain dependence of the intervalley electron–phonon matrix elements in the lowest conduction band of GaAs, GaP, Si and Ge within the density functional perturbation theory. We study both individual transitions and average deformation potential values which can be used as parameters in transport simulations. In the case of a hydrostatic pressure, we draw the general conclusion that the hydrostatic pressure dependence of the intervalley electron–phonon matrix elements can be safely neglected in the interpretation of most commonly studied phenomena. In contrast, the case of a biaxial strain in silicon shows that strain-dependence should be taken into account in calculations of the intervalley electron–phonon matrix elements.