Quantum limit cyclotron resonance in semiconductors

Abstract

The electron scattering behaviour in semiconductors is explored at the quantum limit for Ge, GaAs and InSb, making use of the FIR cyclotron resonance. The inverse relaxation time, or the scattering rate, has been obtained for acoustical deformation potential phonon scattering in Ge, neutral impurity scattering in GaAs, ionized impurity scattering in Ge and InSb, and electron-carrier scattering in GaAs and InSb. It is found that the inverse relaxation time shows a TB 1 2 dependence for phonon scattering, NT 0B − 1 2 dependence for neutral and ionized impurity scatterings and a linear concentration dependence for electron-carrier scattering. Ionized impurity scattering has a stronger rate than neutral impurity scattering, nearly by an order of magnitude, although the dependence on the physical parameter is of the same form for these two scattering types. The dramatic difference in size between electron-neutral donor and electron-neutral acceptor scatterings observed in classical cyclotron resonance is carried over to the quantum limit. All in all, the scattering rate is simply proportional to the density of scatterers.