First-principles simulation of GaN material and devices: an application to GaN APDs

Enrico Bellotti; Michele Moresco; Francesco Bertazzi

doi:10.1117/12.842088

10 March 2010 First-principles simulation of GaN material and devices: an application to GaN APDs

Enrico Bellotti, Michele Moresco, Francesco Bertazzi

Proceedings Volume 7602, Gallium Nitride Materials and Devices V; 76021B (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.842088
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

This work provides a contribution toward the development of a fitting-parameter-free model to describe the high field electron and hole transport in wurtzite GaN. We have developed a novel model for the carrier-phonon interaction in wurtzite GaN based on the rigid pseudoion approach, using the nonlocal empirical pseudopotential method to calculate the electronic structure and the linear response technique within density functional theory to determine the phonon dispersion. This approach makes it possible to eliminate the use of adjustable parameters and to compute the deformation potential interaction parameters both for electron- and hole-phonon scattering rates directly from first-principle. On the same footing the electrons and holes impact ionization rates and the polar carrier-phonon interaction have been computed using the GaN full band structure. Because of the complex GaN band structure, it is necessary to properly account for the multiband transport phenomena that significantly change the carrier dynamics at high energies. Neglecting this effect, would result in a significantly lower impact ionization coefficients and, as a consequence, smaller multiplication gains and higher breakdown voltages in APDs. To evaluate the ability of the new model to predict the performance of realistic devices, we have computed the electrons and holes multiplication gains, noise factors, breakdown voltages and bandwidth of different APD structures fabricated on different crystallographic planes and performed a detailed comparison with the available experimental data. We find that the model correctly predicts, within the experimental errors, the multiplication gains and breakdown voltages of several devices structures.

Citation Download Citation

Enrico Bellotti, Michele Moresco, and Francesco Bertazzi "First-principles simulation of GaN material and devices: an application to GaN APDs", Proc. SPIE 7602, Gallium Nitride Materials and Devices V, 76021B (10 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.842088

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KEYWORDS

Gallium nitride

Avalanche photodetectors

Ionization

Scattering

Instrument modeling

Data modeling

Electron transport

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