Monte Carlo simulations of field and carrier density dependent hole transport in an InGaAs/GaAs strained layer quantum well

Abstract

The authors have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of hole transport in a range of InGaAs/GaAs strained quantum well structures. The simulations include phonon, impurity and alloy scattering, with rates obtained using k.p band structure. The simulations give good agreement with the experimentally determined magnitude and carrier density dependence of the low field hole mobility, for samples with carrier densities ps<or=4.0*1011 cm-2. The results suggest that alloy scattering is primarily responsible for the low mobilities observed in these structures. At ps=4.0*1011 cm-2 strong coupling of optical phonon and plasmon modes leads to enhanced scattering and consequent reduction of the hole drift velocity, but in the current model this effect still does not fully account for the strong saturation of the drift velocity observed experimentally.