Electron transport properties in m-plane and c-plane AlN/GaN heterostructures with interface roughness and anisotropic in-plane strain scatterings

Abstract

Anisotropic transport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas in nonpolar m-plane AlN/GaN heterostructures with the interface roughness coupled anisotropic in-plane strain scattering were investigated theoretically using a path-integral framework. The scattering potential was composed of the interface roughness and the effective field from the electron charge and the net piezoelectric polarization. We showed that the anisotropic biaxial strains generate only the net piezoelectric polarization along the [0 0 0 1]-direction and cause anisotropy in electron mobility with a magnitude lower than the -direction. We also showed that the anisotropy in electron mobility reduced with increasing electron density. Moreover, the anisotropic electron mobility disappeared when the anisotropic in-plane strain scattering was removed, and the relation for pure interface roughness scattering was reestablished. This formulation with existing roughness parameters gave a good description for the experimental results of polar c-plane AlN/GaN heterostructures.