Determination of scattering mechanisms in AlInGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire substrate

Abstract

The electron mobility limited by different scattering mechanisms in the quaternary AlInGaN alloy grown on a GaN layer is investigated with the classical Hall measurement, which is performed at a temperature range of 12 and 350 K and a magnetic field of B = 0.51 T. The effect of the thickness and alloy composition of the quaternary AlInGaN layer on the mobility is also determined. The experimentally determined temperature-dependent Hall mobility was compared with mobility calculated by using Matthiessen's rule. The main scattering mechanisms, including acoustic phonon scattering (piezoelectric and deformation potential), polar optical phonon scattering, alloy disorder scattering, interface roughness scattering, ionized impurity scattering, dislocation scattering, background impurity scattering, were used in the calculations for all temperatures. The results show that the dominant scattering mechanisms, depending on the investigated sample, are the interface roughness scattering and alloy disorder scattering at almost all temperatures. At a low-temperature, mobility is limited by ionized impurity scattering. High-temperature mobility is limited by polar optical phonon scattering. Furthermore, our results suggest that the thickness and alloy composition of the quaternary AlInGaN layer should be optimized for better transport properties.