Optical phonon scattering on electronic mobility in Al2O3/AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructures

Abstract

Considering the built-in electric fields and the two-mode property of transverse optical phonons in AlGaN material, the electronic eigen-energies and wave functions are obtained by solving Schrödinger equation with the finite difference method. The dispersion relations and potentials of the optical phonons are given by the transfer matrix method. The mobility of the two dimensional electron gas influenced by the optical phonons in Al2O3/AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructures is investigated based on the theory of Lei-Ting force balance equation. It is found that the scattering from the half-space phonons is the main factor affecting the electronic mobility, and the influence of the other phonons can be ignored. The results show that the mobility decreases with increasing the thicknesses of Al2O3 and AlN layers, but there is no definite relationship between the mobility and the thickness of AlGaN barrier. The mobility is obviously reduced by increasing Al component in AlGaN crystal to show that the effect of ternary mixed crystals is important. It is also found that the mobility increases first and then decreases as the increment of the fixed charges, but decreases always with increasing temperature. The heterostructures constructed here can be good candidates as metal-oxide-semiconductor high-electron-mobility-transistors since they have higher electronic mobility due to the influence from interface phonons weakened by the AlN interlayer.