Alloy scattering and high field transport in ternary and quaternary III–V semiconductors

A technique is described for the estimation of the influence of random potential alloy scattering on the high field transport properties of quaternary III–V semiconductors obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. The approach is based on an extension of a theoretical model for scattering in the ternary alloys. The magnitude of the scattering potential is an important parameter in alloy scattering, and three proposed models for calculating this potential are discussed. These are the energy bandgap difference, the electron affinity difference, and the heteropolar energy difference for the appropriate binary compounds.The technique is used in the Monte Carlo method to study the influence of alloy scattering on the transport properties of III–V quaternary alloys. The results of this study are used in a device model to estimate device parameters for FETs.