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High Pressure Measurements and the “Universal” Scaling of Impact Ionization with Bandstructure
Author(s) -
Allam J.,
Adams A. R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-3951(199901)211:1<335::aid-pssb335>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - scaling , ionization , physics , materials science , atomic physics , computational physics , environmental science , quantum mechanics , mathematics , ion , geometry
We have investigated impact ionization in semiconductors under hydrostatic pressure ( p ), by measuring the avalanche breakdown voltage ( V b ) in InAs, Si, GaAs and Ge. The sign of d V b /d p was determined by the dominant phonon scattering mechanism (polar or intervalley phonons). A quantitative comparison with simple theories gave information on the location in k ‐space of secondary electrons. Extending the analysis to the determination of V b in wide bandgap semiconductors revealed a simple linear relation between V b and 〈 E 〉, a Brillouin‐zone averaged energy gap.