AI Article Synopsis

  • Electron mobility in nitride semiconductors like scandium nitride (ScN) is hindered by various scattering mechanisms, including electron-phonon interactions and defects.
  • ScN's electron mobility varies based on growth conditions and theoretical models suggest an intrinsic limit of around 524 cm/V·s at room temperature, which is affected by ionized-impurity and grain-boundary scatterings.
  • The study proposes techniques like modulation doping to enhance electron mobility in ScN, which is essential for improving its performance in electronic devices.

Article Abstract

Electron mobility in nitride semiconductors is limited by electron-phonon, defect, grain-boundary, and dislocation scatterings. Scandium nitride (ScN), an emerging rocksalt indirect bandgap semiconductor, exhibits varying electron mobilities depending on growth conditions. Since achieving high mobility is crucial for ScN's device applications, a microscopic understanding of different scattering mechanisms is extremely important. Utilizing the Boltzmann transport formalism and experimental measurements, here we show the hierarchy of various scattering processes in restricting the electron mobility of ScN. Calculations unveil that though Fröhlich interactions set an intrinsic upper bound for ScN's electron mobility of ∼524 cm/V·s at room temperature, ionized-impurity and grain-boundary scatterings significantly reduce mobility. The experimental temperature dependence of mobilities is captured well considering both nitrogen-vacancy and oxygen-substitutional impurities with appropriate ratios, and room-temperature doping dependency agrees well with the empirical Caughey-Thomas model. Furthermore, we suggest modulation doping and polar-discontinuity doping to reduce ionized-impurity scattering in achieving a high-mobility ScN for device applications.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c02920DOI Listing

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