Electron mobility in semi-metal HgCdTe quantum wells: dependence on the well width.

E O Melezhik,J V Gumenjuk-Sichevska,F F Sizov

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1715-6

E O Melezhik, J V Gumenjuk-Sichevska + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-1715-6

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Journal: SpringerPlus	Publication Date: Jan 26, 2016
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Abstract

Energy spectra, carrier concentration and electron mobility are numerically modeled in intrinsic and n-type semi-metal HgCdTe quantum wells at T = 77 K. We present results for the electron mobility calculated in a model incorporating electron scattering on longitudinal optical phonons, charged impurities, and holes, and including the 2D electron gas screening for all mentioned scattering mechanisms. Inelasticity of electron–phonon scattering is treated by means of a direct iterative solution of Boltzmann transport equation. Comparison with the experimental data at liquid helium temperature is provided.

Highlights

Nowadays the task of creation of fast and sensitive detectors in the THz spectral range is important for various areas such as medicine, security, and aerospace
We have studied the dependence of the electron mobility in n-type semi-metallic Hg1− xCdxTe quantum well on the well width and electron concentration
Inelasticity of the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon scattering have been taken into account in the iterative solution of the linearized Boltzmann transport equation

Summary

Introduction

Nowadays the task of creation of fast and sensitive detectors in the THz spectral range is important for various areas such as medicine, security, and aerospace. Semiconductor bolometric detectors allow one to combine high sensitivity, operation speed, and device compactness. Mercury–cadmium–telluride (MCT) heterostructures are promising materials for the implementation of such type of detectors. Hg1−xCdxTe quantum wells (QWs) exhibit high electron mobilities and concentrations, even at liquid nitrogen temperatures. In such QWs, depending on the composition x and quantum well width L, a semi-metallic or semiconducting state can be realized (Olshanetsky et al 2014). A semi-metallic state is characterized by much higher conduction electron concentration at liquid nitrogen temperatures (Melezhik et al 2014).

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