Hot-carrier energy-loss rates in alloy semiconductors.

Abstract

We describe a formalism to calculate the rates of hot-carrier cooling via phonon emission in ternary alloys of III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors. The coupled dynamics of hot carriers and hot optical phonons is incorporated to include hot-phonon effects. The energy-loss rate calculations take into account the various effects specific to mixed crystals such as occurrence of additional phonon modes and modifications of the Fr\"ohlich and other dominant carrier-phonon interactions for alloy systems. Using this formalism, hot-carrier energy-loss rates in the case of CdS, CdSe, and ${\mathrm{CdS}}_{0.5}$${\mathrm{Se}}_{0.5}$ are calculated with and without hot-phonon effects, as an illustration. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.