PERGAMON Solid State Communications 110 (1999) 469472

Velocity overshoot in zincblende and wurtzite GaN

E.W.S. Caetano a, R.N. Costa Filho a, V.N. Freire a,*, J.A.P. da Costa b
a
Departamento de Fsica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Caixa Postal 6030, Campus do Pici, 60455-760 Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil
b
Departamento de Fsica Teorica e Experimental, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Caixa Postal 1641, 59072-970 Natal,
Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Received 8 February 1999; accepted 3 March 1999 by G. Bastard

Abstract
The ultrafast transient behavior of the electron drift velocity and mean energy in zincblende and wurtzite GaN subjected to
electric fields E 100 kV/cm is studied. The evolution of the transport parameters towards the steady state is shown to occur in
less than 0.3 ps in both GaN structures. The velocity transient presents an overshoot effect when E 20 kV/cm and E 50 kV/
cm in the case of zincblende and wurtzite GaN, respectively, even without taking into account intervalley scattering. For a given
electric field, the velocity overshoot is always much stronger in the zincblende phase than in the wurtzite phase. 1999 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: A. Semiconductors; D. Electronic transport

Considerable effort has been devoted recently to the
research on GaN properties due to their technological
applications like in blue light emitting devices [1,2],
as well as its promising high temperature and high
power operating characteristics. Although remarkable
progress have been achieved on the growth of GaN-
based heterostructures, there is still a lack of informa-
tion concerning basic GaN bulk properties. This is
particularly true in the case of carriers dynamics and
high field transport since only recently the spectral
and temporal behavior of the near-band-edge emis-
sion in cubic GaN was investigated by Klann et al.
[3] using time-resolved photoluminescense. No
experimental results were published up to now
concerning high field electron transport in GaN, to
knowledge of authors. However, information on the
ultrafast electron transport phenomena of electrons in
* Corresponding author. Fax: 85-2874138.
E-mail address: valder@fisica.ufc.br (V.N. Freire)
0038-1098/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0038-109 8(99)00114-3
GaN is important since their high peak velocity is a
relevant factor for technological applications in the
high frequency domain.
Pioneer calculations on high field transport in
GaN were performed by Ferry [4] and Littlejohn
et al. [5]. More recently, velocity-field characteris-
tics of zincblende and wurtzite GaN phases based
on Monte Carlo [69] and Boltzmann transport
[10] were obtained, taking advantage of better
bulk material parameters and band structure infor-
mation disposable nowadays. The calculations
showed the existence of a negative differential
resistance (NDR) region with threshold field of
110 and 180 kV/cm for the zincblende and wurtzite
GaN phases, respectively. The difference in the
threshold fields is due to details of the band struc-
ture of the GaN phases [8]. In both, the zincblende
and the wurtzite GaN phases, the existence of the
NDR region is usually argued to be a consequence
of intervalley scattering, which is effective,
470 E.W.S. Caetano et al. / Solid State Communications 110 (1999) 469472
Fig. 1. Top: time evolution of the electron energy in zincblende
GaN for electric field intensities 0 kV/cm EF 100 kV/cm.
Bottom: time evolution of the electron drift velocity in zincblende
GaN for electric field intensities 0 kV/cm EF 100 kV/cm.
however, only for electric field intensities above
100 kV/cm.
The first result concerning velocity overshoot and
transit times in zincblende and wurtzite GaN phases
have been published by Foutz et al. [11] only recently.
They have performed a Monte Carlo simulation
considering a three valley model with nonparabolicity
and polar optical phonon, ionized impurity, deforma-
tion potential, piezoelectric and intervalley scattering.
Foutz et al. [11] have obtained transit times smaller
than 0.6 ps, and have shown that an overshoot in the
electron drift velocity in wurtzite GaN and zincblende
GaN occurs only for electric fields higher than 150
and 120 kV/cm, respectively, Foutz et al. [11] have
also obtained that, for a given electric field intensity,
the electron velocity overshoot in wurtzite GaN is
always smaller than in zincblende GaN. The velocity
overshoot effect in zincblende and wurtzite GaN was
explained by means of the occurrence of intervalley
scattering.
In this work, the ultrafast transport transient proper-
ties of electrons in zincblende and wurtzite GaN are
studied. The calculations are performed without
considering intervalley scattering. Therefore, to
assure that the electrons in zincblende and wurtzite
GaN remains in the G-valley, the intensity of the elec-
tric field is restricted to be smaller than 100 kV/cm,
for which the G-valley electron occupancy is 100%
[8]. Within this scheme, it is investigated the contri-
bution of the difference between the electron energy
and momentum relaxation in the G-valley to the exis-
tence of an electron drift velocity overshoot in zinc-
blende and wurtzite GaN subjected to electric fields
E 100 kV/cm. Even without considering intervalley
scattering, an overshoot in the drift velocity of elec-
trons in zincblende and wurtzite GaN is shown to be
possible for electric fields smaller than 20 and 50 kV/
cm, respectively. This result is in striking contrast
with that of Foutz et al. [11].
The evolution towards the steady state of the elec-
tron drift velocity v and energy e in zincblende and
wurtzite GaN is obtained by solving numerically
coupled Boltzmann-like transport equations for them
in the approximation of momentum and energy
relaxation times, tp e and te e, respectively. The
electric field intensity EF is restricted to be smaller
than 100 kV/cm to avoid taking into account inverval-
ley scattering. The momentum and energy relaxation
times are calculated using the steady state relation v
EF and e EF obtained by Kolnk et al. [8] using an
ensemble Monte Carlo simulation, and taking into
account polar optical and acoustic electronphonon
scattering mechanisms. This type of scheme to calcu-
late the momentum and energy relaxation times using
the steady state relations v EF and e EF for the
numerical solution of Boltzmann-like coupled trans-
port equations for v and e was originally due to Shur
[12], Carnez et al. [13] and Nougier et al. [14].
Recently, it was used for the calculation of high
field transport transient of minority carriers in p-
GaAs by Alencar et al. [15], high magnetic field
effects on the ultrafast transport transient of hot elec-
trons in InSb by Mendes et al. [16] and high-
magnetic-field effects on the terahertz mobility of
hot electrons in n-type InSb by Caetano et al. [17].
The electron effective mass in wurtzite and zincble-
nde GaN used in the calculations is 0.19m0 and
0.15m0, respectively, where m0 is the free space elec-
tron mass [18,19]. The GaN bath temperature is main-
tained at 300 K. Nonparabolicity of the GaN energy
 E.W.S. Caetano et al. / Solid State Communications 110 (1999) 469472
Fig. 2. Top: time evolution of the electron energy in wurtzite GaN
for electric field intensities 0 kV/cm EF 100 kV/cm. Bottom:
time evolution of the electron drift velocity in wurtzite GaN for
electric field intensities 0 kV/cm EF 100 kV/cm.
bands is not considered in the calculations because its
effect for electric fields smaller than 100 kV/cm only
increases about 10% the steady state drift velocity. It
does not change the pattern of the v EF and e EF
curves, implying that nonparabolic energy band
corrections to the calculations of the momentum and
energy relaxation times are small.
The evolution of the drift velocity and energy of
electron in zincblende and wurtzite GaN is presented
in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, for electric field inten-
sities up to 100 kV/cm. The time for v(t) and e (t) to
arrive at the steady state is weakly dependent on the
intensity of the electric field. It is about 0.2 ps in
wurtzite GaN, and 0.3 ps in zincblende GaN. For the
same intensity of the electric field, the electron drift
velocity and energy is shown to be always smaller in
wurtzite than in zincblende GaN. This difference is
more remarkable in the case of the electron energy
than for the electron drift velocity. In both zincblende
and wurtzite GaN structures, the electron velocity can
overshoot its steady state, even without considering
intervalley scattering. In the wurtzite GaN structure,
471
an overshoot in the electron velocity begins to appear
only when the applied electric field intensity is higher
than 50 kV/cm. On the other hand, the electron velo-
city overshoot begins to occur in the zincblende GaN
structure for electric fields higher than 20 kV/cm. The
overshoot effect on the electron drift velocity in zinc-
blende GaN is stronger than in wurtzite GaN, a result
that is due to the difference between the electron effec-
tive mass of the GaN phases.
Overshoot effects in the drift velocity of carriers in
semiconductors occur when the relaxation rate of
momentum is larger than that of energy [20]. The
main mechanism that makes the relaxation rate of
momentum larger than that of energy is the intervalley
scattering due to the mass changes related to the
carrier transfer. As was shown by Kolnk et al. [8]
the intervalley scattering turns to be important only
when the electric field intensity is higher than 100 kV/
cm. In the calculations performed here, it is the polar
optical and acoustic electronphonon scattering that
makes the relaxation rate of momentum larger than
that of energy. Consequently, the contribution of these
electron scattering mechanisms to the difference
between the electron energy and momentum relaxa-
tion in the G-valley is responsible for the existence of
the electron velocity overshoot effect in zincblende
and wurtzite GaN when subjected to electric fields
E 100 kV/cm. Since the contributions of the polar
optical and acoustic electronphonon scattering
mechanisms to make the relaxation rate of momentum
larger than that of energy is smaller than that of the
intervalley scattering for electric fields lower than
100 kV/cm, the electron velocity overshoot effect
we have obtained is smaller than those which occur
at fields higher than 100 kV/cm.
Foutz et al. [11] have not obtained electron velocity
overshoots in their Monte Carlo simulations of the
high field transport in zincblende and wurtzite GaN
for an electric field intensity smaller than 100 kV/cm
perhaps because they have also considered ionized
impurity and piezoelectric scattering, which can
contribute to make the relaxation rate of momentum
smaller than the relaxation rate of energy when inter-
valley scattering is not effective. A detailed investiga-
tion of this assumption is beyond the scope of the
present work.
In conclusion, it was shown the possibility of the
existence of electron drift velocity overshoots in both
472 E.W.S. Caetano et al. / Solid State Communications 110 (1999) 469472
the zincblende and wurtzite GaN when subjected to
electric fields smaller than 100 kV/cm. The overshoot
effects are due to the fact that polar optical and acous-
tic electron-phonon scattering make the relaxation
rate of momentum larger than that of energy.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Brazilian National
Research Council (CNPq), the Ministry of Planning
(FINEP), and the Science Funding Agency of the
Ceara State in Brazil (FUNCAP).
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