University of California, Berkeley

EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

Electron-phonon scattering (Finish Lundstrom Chapter 2)

Deformation potentials
The mechanism of electron-phonon coupling is treated as a perturbation of the band ener-
gies due to the lattice vibration.

° ° °
Equilibrium atomic positions: R 1, R 2, R 3, …

°
Lattice vibrations cause perturbations about equilibrium: R + δR . Energy bands shift
locally due to perturbation. In a linear approximation:
δR
δE c = D c ------
a

δR
δE v = D v ------
a

D c, D v are constants known as deformation potentials.

Lattice vibration waves lead to sinusoidal variations δE. These mix Bloch waves for the
electrons which leads to scattering. We will use δE as a perturbation and then apply Fermi’s
Golden Rule to get the scattering rates.

Energy and momentum conservation

We consider inelastic scattering where an electron makes a transition from momentum p to

p¢ involving emission or absorption of a phonon q:
Energy conservation:

+ sign phonon absorption

- sign phonon emission

Assuming spherical, parabolic bands, and intra-valley scattering (i.e. both initial and final
electron states are within the same parabolic band):

(1)

Momentum conservation tells us that:

Electron phonon scattering Handout.fm

University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

_
p' = p ± h q
take

2 _2 2 _
= p + h q ± 2h pq cos θ (2)

compare (1) & (2) to obtain:

_ _2 2 _
± 2m∗ h ω = h q ± 2h pq cos θ
simplifying:
_ ω-
− cos θ ± -------
h q = 2p + (3)
qv e
p- .
where v e = ------
m∗

(3) sets min, max values for phonon wave vectors via – 1 ≤ cos θ ≤ 1

Intravalley acoustic phonon scattering. ω

optical
ω = qv s v s : sound velocity
_ vs
h q = 2p −
+ cos θ ± ----
ve

q max : θ = π absorption
acoustic
θ = 0 emission
q π/a

5 7
Typically, v s ∼ 10 cm/sec and v e ∼ 10 cm/sec (300K). So,

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

p' p nearly elastic

_
h q = – 2p

2m∗ v e
magnitude of q max = ---------------
_
h
For m∗ ∼ 0.5m o , with v e ∼ 10 cm/sec , we find
7

where a is taken as 5 Å. Thus, for intravalley acoustic phonon scattering, the participating
phonons are near zone center.

Energy transfer
_ _ –3
ΔE max = h ω max = h q max v s ≅ 10 eV , which is small, so we find that intravalley acoustic
phonon scattering is nearly elastic

Intravalley optical phonon scattering

Optic phonon energies ωο are in the range of 30 - 50meV, so optic phonon scattering is def-
initely inelastic. Once again applying the conservation law (3):

_ 2− ωo
–h q + 2pq cos θ ± 2p ------ = 0
ve

Solving for q:
_
± 2p cos θ – 4p cos θ ± 8h ω o m∗
2 2
q = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_ -
– 2h
(only the - sqrt term is physical, since q is a magnitude, hence must be positive.
So:

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

2m∗-⎞
cos θ ± h ω o ⎛ ---------
_ _
hq = p −
2
+ cos θ + ⎝ 2 ⎠
p

= p[ −
2
+ cos θ + cos θ ± hω o ⁄ E ]

for room temp E ∼ ( hω o ) ⁄ 2

hq max ≅ 2.7p , which again involves phonons near zone center since the electron energy is
usually thermal, hence the electron momentum is small.

Scattering rates
Fermi golden rule:
2π
S ( p, p' ) = ------ H pp' δ( E ( p' ) – E ( p ) −
2
h + hω q ) - abs
+ emiss
For deformation potential scattering

In the case of optic phonons, δa ∝ u , since the atoms are moving in opposite directions.
∂u
On the other hand, for acoustic phonons, δa ∝ ----- , since, for acoustic phonons, the atoms
∂x
are moving in nominally the same direction. So we have:

DA - acoustic deformation potential

δE o = D 0 u Do - optic deformation potential

Acoustic

Since

2 2
H p'p = ( D A qA q ) δ( p' – p – hG ± hq )

Where the parameter Aq is derived from the quantum mechanics of phonons. Recall the
phonon operator:

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

_
h ⎞1 ⁄ 2
⎛ -------------- iq ⋅ r – iq ⋅ r
δR = ∑ ⎝ 2Mωq-⎠ êq [ aq e + a–q† e ]
q

For phonon absorption:

where Nq = phonon occupation for mode q. For phonon emission we get:

_ _
2 h 2 ( N q + 1 )h
Aq = --------------- 〈 N q + 1 a q† N q〉 = ------------------------
2Mω q 2Mωq

kT
At room temperature, Nq is typically >> 1, so N q ≅ N q + 1 ≅ _------- . We can therefore add the
hω
emission and absorption processess. If we neglect G ≠ 0 processes, which are generally
weaker, we obtain the acoustic phonon scattering rate:
2
2π D A kT q 2
_- -------------- -----2- δ( p' – p −
S ( p', p ) = ----- + hq ) δ( E' – E −
+ hω )
h M ω

After integration over all allowed p' , and use of ω = qv s (see text for full details), we
obtain:
2
π V cell D A kT-
S ( p ) = 1--- = -_- ------------------------ D(E)
τ h Mv 2
s

density of electron
states

M - is the mass density. Again a power law in E:

where ρ = --------------
unit V

for acoustic phonon scattering.

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

Optic deformation potential scattering

In this case, the perturbation of the band energy goes as δE o = D o u . Since the process is
so inherently “inelastic,” we can’t combine absorption and emission. The matrix element is
similar to the acoustic phonon case. For phonon absorption:

For phonon emission:

2
2 hD o _
H pp' = --------------- ( N q + 1 ) δ( p' – p + h q o )
2Mω o
The scattering rate is a sum of emission and absorption scattering:
3⁄2
D o ( 2m∗ )
2
_ 1⁄2 _ 1⁄2 _
S ( p ) = -----------------------------
_3 - Nq ( E + h ωo ) + ( Nq + 1 ) ( E – h ωo ) uo ( E – h ωo )
2πρh ω o

⎧
⎪
⎪
⎨
⎪
⎪
⎩
Heaviside or
unit-step function

Phonon Scattering Rates

n
S
S
E missio
Ab s+

ABS

E E
Acoustic _
h ωo Optic

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

Polar optic phonon scattering

This is the process that usually dominates in compound semiconductors. In this case, since
we are considering optic phonons, the induced dipole is directly proportional to the phonon
amplitude:

where e* is the effective charge on the dipole. A simple analysis leads to an expression for
the perturbation energy:

Here, Vc is the unit cell volume. The resulting scattering rate for the unscreened case is (see
text):
2
e ωo ⎛ ----------------------
1 E ⎞1 ⁄ 2
⎞ N sinh – 1⎛ --------- ⎛ --------- – 1⎞ 1 ⁄ 2
–1 E
S ( p ) = -------------------------------- + ( N + 1 ) sinh
⎝ ⎠ q ⎝ hω o⎠ ⎝ hω ⎠
2πh 2E ⁄ m∗ ε ∞ – ε ( o )
_ q
o

The screened result for this case is a complex expression (see Ferry if interested).

Intervalley scattering
In Si, zone edge phonons (optical or high energy acoustic) can move carriers from one
equivalent valley to another. Optical deformation potential scattering rate applies, modi-
fied by Zf, the number of equivalent final valleys, and using Dif, which is defined as the
intervalley deformation potential.

In GaAs

ΔE Γ – L = 0.29eV

Γ
only very high energy carriers in Γ valley can scatter to L valley. This only occurs in high
fields, or certain laser excitation expts.

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University of California, Berkeley
EE230 - Solid State Electronics Prof. J. Bokor

Summary - Scattering in intrinsic Si, GaAs (Lundstrom 2.11)

u i v i n terval-
eq K
i at 300
15 ley in S
10 ADPi Polar optic phonon
1---
(see) in S
τ in GaAs at 300k
14
10
Γ - L scatt in
GaAs
10
13 τ
τm
12
10
E(eV
0.2 0.4 0.6

- ADP scattering dominates for E < hω op for both Si, GaAs

- Si has equivalent intervalley scattering for low energies involving optic phonons.

- In GaAs, no intervalley scattering for E < 0.29eV . Low field behavior in GaAs dominated
by POP scattering. This is weaker and ~ const with energy.

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