Journal of Crystal Growth 246 (2002) 320324

Band structure effects on the transient electron transport in

wurtzite InN
T.F. de Vasconcelosa, F.F. Maia Jr.a, E.W.S. Caetanoa, V.N. Freirea,*,
J.A.P. da Costab, E.F. da Silva Jr.c
a
Departamento de F!sica, Universidade Federal do Ceara! Campus do Pici, Caixa Postal 6030, 60455-900 Fortaleza, Ceara,
! Brazil
b
!
Departamento de F!sica Teorica e Experimental, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte 59072-970 Natal,
Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
c
!
Departamento de F!sica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Cidade Universitaria, 50670-901 Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Abstract

The transient regime of electron transport in wurtzite InN subjected to applied electric elds in the GA and GM
directions is calculated. The strength of the electron drift velocity overshoot effect is shown to be substantially
dependent on the eld direction, being stronger in the latter than in the former. This behavior is explained on the basis
of the energy dependence of the band structure attening, which is weaker in the GA than in the GM direction, and
gives rise to a heavier average effective mass.
r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 72.20.Ht; 72.60.Dp; 72.90.+y; 71.70.Di

Keywords: A1. Band anisotropy; A1. Carrier; A1. Effective mass; A1. Overshoot effect; B1. Wurtzite InN; B2. Semiconducting IIIV
materials

1. Introduction material for power eld effect devices, high-

Considerable interest has been devoted to
indium nitride (InN) during the last few years
due to its technological applications like in
quantum-well-based blue light emission devices,
where In(Ga)N has a key role as the carrier
connement material [1]. For electronic device
applications, InN is the most promising nitride
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +55-85-2889937; fax: +55-85-
2874138.
E-mail address: valder@sica.ufc.br (V.N. Freire).
0022-0248/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 2 - 0 2 4 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 1 7 5 7 - 8
performance and high-frequency transistors, since
it has the best steady-state velocityeld charac-
teristics among the III-nitrides. At a doping
concentration of 1:0
1017 cm3 ; InN presents
the highest electron drift velocity peak of 4:3

107 cm=s at a eld of 67 kV/cm, and saturation
value in the steady-state of 2:5
107 cm=s [2].
Focusing on the performance of sub-micron
devices, the ultrafast electron transport properties
of InN (principally the characteristics of the
electron drift velocity overshoot), which occurs in
a time scale shorter than 0.5 ps, are more suitable
than those of GaN and AlN for the implementation
 T.F. de Vasconcelos et al. / Journal of Crystal Growth 246 (2002) 320324
of high-speed devices with gate length smaller than
0:3 mm [3]. However, the electron velocity over-
shoot onset in III-nitrides is a controversial matter
yet [3,4].
Recently, a full-band Monte Carlo simulation of
the electron steady-state transport in wurtzite InN
has evidenced a noticeable anisotropy of the
velocityeld curve with respect to the applied
eld direction. Bellotti et al. [5] showed that the
electric eld applied along the GA direction is less
efcient in heating the carriers than when applied
in the GM direction, which is due to the heavier
average effective mass along the former. The
electron drift velocity presented a maximum
around 65 kV/cm in both the cases, but is
considerably smaller when averaged in the GA
rather than in the GM direction. These results
indicate that the band structure anisotropy of
wurtzite InN should also be taken into account
when a better description of the transient transport
characteristics is sought. The eld dependent
onset of a possible overshoot on the electron drift
velocity, as well as the rate of energy transfer from
the eld to the carriers should be highly dependent
on the applied eld direction. The purpose of this
work is to investigate how the anisotropy of the
band structure changes the transient transport
properties of wurtzite InN.
2. Model and numerical approach
The theoretical calculations are performed
solving numerically coupled Boltzmann-like
transport equations within the approximation
of relaxation times for momentum and energy in
a given applied electric eld direction [4]. The
results take full advantage of the stationary state
data for the electric eld dependence of the mean
electron velocity and energy in the GA and GM
directions resulting from the ensemble Monte
Carlo simulation of Bellotti et al. [5]. Originally
proposed by Shur [6], this scheme for the calcula-
tion of the time evolution of the electron drift
velocity and energy towards the steady state has
been adopted by several authors to study hot
carriers in GaAs [7,8], high-eld transport tran-
sient of minority carriers in p-GaAs [9], and high
321
magnetic eld effects on the ultrafast transport
transient of hot electrons in InSb [10,11], for
example.
Concerning transient transport investigations in
bulk III-nitrides, the energy-momentum approach
was used recently: (i) to study the ultrafast
transient behavior of the electron drift velocity
and mean energy in zincblende and wurtzite GaN,
where the velocity transient was shown to present
an overshoot effect for electric eld strengths
stronger than 20 and 50 kV/cm in the case of
zincblende and wurtzite GaN, respectively [12]; (ii)
to calculate the transient electron transport in
wurtzite GaN, InN, and AlN for an electric eld
applied in the GA direction, obtaining a quiet
reasonable overall agreement with the results
calculated through Monte Carlo simulation [3].
However, they have overlooked how the aniso-
tropy of the III-nitride band structures may affect
the transient transport properties.
In our calculations polar-optical, acoustic pho-
non, ionized impurity, and piezoelectric scattering
mechanisms as well as nonparabolicity effects are
considered to obtain the relaxation times for
momentum and energy in the GA and GM
directions. In addition, we take into account the
details of the conduction bands of the wurtzite
InN. The electron effective mass in wurtzite InN in
the GA and GM directions is taken as 0:12 m0
and 0:11 m0 ; respectively, where m0 is the electron
mass in the vacuum, and the nonparabolicity
constant a 0:419 eV1 [5]. The electric eld
intensity is restricted to values less than 100 kV/
cm to avoid population of secondary valleys in
wurtzite InN since their energies are not well
known yet [3], restricting the energymomentum
approach used here to a single nonparabolic
energy band. According to the results of Bellotti
et al. [3], the higher average electron effective mass
along the GA direction rather than in the GM
direction is responsible for a higher electron
steady-state drift velocity and mean energy in the
former than in the latter direction. These differ-
ences give rise to an anisotropy of the relaxation
times of momentum and energy, and consequently
the transient transport properties of electrons in
InN turn to be dependent on the applied electric
eld direction.
322 T.F. de Vasconcelos et al. / Journal of Crystal Growth 246 (2002) 320324

3. Field direction anisotropy of electron velocity M

and energy 8
20 kV/cm
60 kV/cm

Velocity (10 cm/s)

Figs. 1 and 2 (top graphs) depict the eld- 6
direction related anisotropy of the electron drift 100 kV/cm

7
velocity in wurtzite InN for electric elds applied
4
in the GA and GM directions, respectively. For
small electric elds B10 kV/cm, the effect of the
anisotropy can be disregarded since the evolution 2
of the electron drift velocity toward the steady
state is very similar in both the GA and GM 0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
directions. However, as the eld intensity is raised
from 0 to 50 kV/cm we observe that the onset of 1.0
overshoot on the electron drift velocity happens

Average Energy (eV)

slightly earlier in the GM than in the GA 0.8
direction. This behavior is associated to the fact
0.6
that the average electron effective mass in the GA
direction is heavier than in the GM direction. At
0.4

0.2

A 0.0
8 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
20 kV/cm Time (ps)
Velocity (10 cm/s)

60 kV/cm
6 Fig. 2. Time evolution of the electron drift velocity (top graph)
100 kV/cm
and electron energy (bottom graph) in wurtzite InN for electric
7

elds applied in the GM direction: eld intensities are 20 kV/

4
cm (   ), 60 kV/cm (- - - -) and 100 kV/cm () respectively.

60 kV/cm, we start to observe clearly the onset of

0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 an overshoot in the electron drift velocity for both
directions. It is clear from our results that the
1.0
anisotropy of the relaxation times cannot preclude
the existence of the overshoot effect in the electron
Average Energy (eV)

0.8
drift velocity for higher electric elds in the
0.6 directions we have investigated. The peak of the
electron drift velocity continues to be highly
0.4 dependent on the eld direction related anisotropy
as the eld is further increased. As a matter of fact,
0.2 the peak in the electron drift velocity in the GM
direction is B30% higher than in the GA
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 direction. Despite the changes on the character-
Time (ps) istics of the electron drift velocity related to the
applied electric eld direction in wurtzite InN, the
Fig. 1. Time evolution of the electron drift velocity (top graph)
and electron energy (bottom graph) in wurtzite InN for electric anisotropy of the relaxation times does not change
elds applied in the GA direction: eld intensities are 20 kV/cm the time needed for the electron drift velocity to
(   ), 60 kV/cm (- - - -) and 100 kV/cm (), respectively. arrive at the steady state, which is similar for the
 T.F. de Vasconcelos et al. / Journal of Crystal Growth 246 (2002) 320324
directions investigated here, e.g. always smaller
than 0.5 ps.
The evolution of the carrier energy towards the
steady state is depicted in the bottom parts of
Figs. 1 and 2 for the applied eld directions GA
and GM; respectively. It is shown that the time
necessary for the carriers energy to arrive at the
steady state is approximately the same in both
directions. However, the rate of growth of the
carriers energy is smaller in the former than in
the latter direction. This is due to the stronger
electron scattering mechanisms in the GA direc-
tion, which can be explained on the basis of the
energy dependence of the band attening, weaker
in the GA rather than in the GM direction,
giving rise to a heavier average effective mass
in the former direction. Rodrigues et al. [13] have
demonstrated the possibility of an overshoot
existing on the carriers mean energy in InN
for electric eld intensities smaller than 40 kV/
cm, a feature which is not present in this work. As
in the case of the results of Foutz et al. [3], the
absence of a mean electron energy overshoot can
be associated mainly to the warm LO-phonon
effect, e.g. the increase of few degrees Kelvin in the
LO-phonon system temperature when it is con-
sidered as a nonintensive thermodynamic variable
within the nonequilibrium statistical ensemble
formalism in the description of the high-eld
carrier transient transport properties in III-nitride
systems [13].
4. Concluding remarks
In conclusion, the main characteristics of the
transient transport properties of electrons in
wurtzite InN subjected to electric elds applied
in the GA and GM directions were calculated.
The existence of a eld direction related aniso-
tropy on the electron drift velocity overshoot was
demonstrated, which was shown to be rooted on
the band structure attening in the former direc-
tion and absent in the latter direction. While recent
reports are pointing to the noticeable electric eld
direction anisotropy of the III-nitrides transport
properties in the steady state, the results presented
here indicate that the transient behavior of the
323
transport parameters is also strongly dependent on
the direction in which the electric eld is applied.
In both situations an improved description of the
electric eld direction related anisotropy effects
will be possible only when better III-nitrides
samples allow band structure measurements to
conrm or not several details of the band structure
calculations already published. However, even
nowadays the physical parameters of the III-
nitrides semiconductors are not well known. As a
matter of fact, recent absorption and emission
experiments are evidencing the possibility of a
0:9 meV energy gap for hexagonal InN [14]. This
state of the art points to the limitation of this
work, since its results are strongly dependent on
the band structure calculations that have to be
conrmed by measurements, which will not give
conclusive results due to the quality of the actual
samples.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the
nancial support received from the Science Fund-
ing Agency of the Ceara! (FUNCAP) state in
Brazil, the Brazilian National Research Council
(CNPq) under contract NanoSemiMat/CNPq #
550.015/01-9, and the Ministry of Planning
(FINEP) under contract CTPETRO/FINEP #
65.00.02.80.00.
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