High field transport in GaAs,InP and InAs

Calculations of the steady state and transient electron drift velocities and impact ionization rate are presented for GaAs, InP and InAs based on a Monte Carlo simulation using a realistic band structure derived from an empirical pseudopotential. The impact ionization results are obtained using collision broadening of the initial state and are found to fit the experimental data well through a wide range of applied fields. In InP the impact ionization rate is much lower than in GaAs and no appreciable anisotropy has been observed. This is due in part to the larger density of states in InP and the corresponding higher electron-phonon scattering rate. The transient drift velocities are calculated under the condition of high energy injection. The results for InP show that higher velocities can be obtained over 1000–1500 Å device lengths for a much larger range of launching energies and applied electric fields than in GaAs. For the case of InAs, due to the large impact ionization rate, high drift velocities can be obtained since the ionization acts to limit the transfer of electrons to the satellite minima. In the absence of impact ionization, the electrons show the usual runaway effect and transfer readily occurs, thus lowering the drift velocity substantially.