Power loss mechanisms in n-type modulation-doped AlGaAs/GaAsBi quantum well heterostructures

Abstract

We report on the power loss mechanisms of hot electrons in as-grown and annealed n-type modulation-doped Al0.15Ga0.85As/GaAs1-xBix (x = 0 and 0.04) quantum well (QW) structures considering acoustic phonon interactions via the deformation potential (non-polar) and piezoelectric (polar) scatterings. The two-dimensional (2D) electron gas is heated by applying various electric fields under a steady-state magnetic field, and the effect of the applied electric field on the Shubnikov de Haas (SdH) oscillations is analyzed to investigate the power loss mechanism. The temperature of hot electrons (Te) has been obtained by comparing the lattice temperature and applied electric field dependencies of the SdH oscillation amplitude. The hot electron temperature is almost the same for both Bi-free and Bi-containing samples except for the sample annealed at higher than growth temperature (700°C). The electron temperature dependence of power loss is analyzed using current theoretical analytic models derived for 2D semiconductors. We find that energy relaxation occurs in the intermediate temperature regime, including mixing of piezoelectric and deformation potential scattering. The power loss of hot electrons is found to be proportional to (T_e^γ-T_L^γ) with  in the range from 2.4 to 4.2, which indicates that the hot electron relaxation is due to acoustic phonon scatterings via unscreened deformation potential and piezoelectric scattering. It is found that deformation potential scattering is dominant over piezoelectric scattering in the Bi-free sample, while the incorporation of Bi into the GaAs lattice makes these processes comparable. After thermal annealing at lower than growth temperature (350°C), the scattering mechanism switches from deformation potential to piezoelectric scattering. After thermal annealing at higher than growth temperature (700°C), the theoretical model does not fit to the experimental results due to degradation of the sample.