Impact ionization and intervalley electron scattering in InSb and InAs induced by a single terahertz pulse.
Journal
Scientific reports
ISSN: 2045-2322
Titre abrégé: Sci Rep
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101563288
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
29 Jun 2020
29 Jun 2020
Historique:
received:
08
04
2020
accepted:
09
06
2020
entrez:
1
7
2020
pubmed:
1
7
2020
medline:
1
7
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Electronic properties of InSb and InAs are sensitive to electric field due to their narrow forbidden energy gaps and big difference in effective masses of electrons in different conduction band valleys. Here we report impact ionization processes and redistribution of electrons between the Γ, L and X valleys induced by a single ultrashort terahertz (THz) pulse at 80 K temperature. Monte Carlo simulation revealed that electron motion in this case has near ballistic character. The threshold electric field of impact ionization increases as the THz pulse gets shorter, and the process of impact ionization essentially raises cooling rate of hot electrons. The L valley gets mainly occupied by electrons in InSb while the X valley holds the majority of electrons in InAs at strong electric fields, respectively above 20 kV/cm and 90 kV/cm. The calculated results are in good agreement with the available experimental data.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32601406
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67541-1
pii: 10.1038/s41598-020-67541-1
pmc: PMC7324565
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
10580Subventions
Organisme : Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba
ID : No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0050
Organisme : Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba
ID : No. S-LU-20-7
Références
Yeh, K.-L., Hoffmann, M. C., Hebling, J. & Nelson, K. A. Generation of 10 µJ ultrashort terahertz pulses by optical rectification. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 171121-1–171121-3 (2007).
Yeh, K.-L., Hebling, J., Hoffmann, M. C. & Nelson, K. A. Generation of high average power 1 kHz shaped THz pulses via optical rectification. Opt. Commun. 281, 3567–3570 (2008).
doi: 10.1016/j.optcom.2008.03.018
Hoffmann, M. C. & Fülöp, J. A. Intense ultrashort terahertz pulses: Generation and applications. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 44, 083001 (2011).
doi: 10.1088/0022-3727/44/8/083001
Hirori, H., Doi, A., Blanchard, F. & Tanaka, K. Single-cycle terahertz pulses with amplitudes exceeding 1 MV/cm generated by optical rectification in LiNbO
doi: 10.1063/1.3560062
Oh, T. I., Yoo, Y. J., You, Y. S. & Kim, K. Y. Generation of strong terahertz fields exceeding 8 MV/cm at 1 kHz and real-time beam profiling. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 041103-1–041103-4 (2014).
doi: 10.1063/1.4891678
Seifert, T. et al. Ultrabroadband single-cycle terahertz pulses with peak fields of 300 kV cm
doi: 10.1063/1.4986755
Wen, H., Wiczer, M. & Lindenberg, A. M. Ultrafast electron cascades in semiconductors driven by intense femtosecond terahertz pulses. Phys. Rev. B 78, 125203-1–125203-6 (2008).
Hoffmann, M. C., Hebling, J., Hwang, H. Y., Yeh, K.-L. & Nelson, K. A. Impact ionization in InSb probed by terahertz pump-terahertz probe spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. B 79, 161201-1–161201-4 (2009).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.161201
Su, F. H. et al. Terahertz pulse induced intervalley scattering in photoexcited GaAs. Opt. Express 17, 9620–9629 (2009).
doi: 10.1364/OE.17.009620
Razzari, L. et al. Nonlinear ultrafast modulation of the optical absorption of intense few-cycle terahertz pulses in n-doped semiconductors. Phys. Rev. B 79, 193204-1–193204-4 (2009).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.193204
Hoffmann, M. C. & Turchinovich, D. Semiconductor saturable absorbers for ultrafast terahertz signals. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 151110-1–151110-3 (2010).
Hebling, J., Hoffmann, M. C., Hwang, H. Y., Yeh, K.-L. & Nelson, K. A. Observation of nonequilibrium carrier distribution in Ge, Si, and GaAs by terahertz pump–terahertz probe measurements. Phys. Rev. B 81, 035201-1–035201-5 (2010).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.81.035201
Hirori, H. et al. Extraordinary carrier multiplication gated by a picosecond electric field pulse. Nat. Commun. 2, 594-1–594-6 (2011).
doi: 10.1038/ncomms1598
Ho, I.-C. & Zhang, X.-C. Driving intervalley scattering and impact ionization in InAs with intense terahertz pulses. Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 241908-1–241908-3 (2011).
Tani, S., Blanchard, F. & Tanaka, K. Ultrafast carrier dynamics in graphene under a high electric field. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 166603-1–166603-5 (2012).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.166603
Kampfrath, T., Tanaka, K. & Nelson, K. A. Resonant and nonresonant control over matter and light by intense terahertz transients. Nat. Photonics 7, 680–690 (2013).
doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.184
Ho, I. C. & Zhang, X. C. Nonlinear THz Pump/THz probe spectroscopy of n-doped III–V semiconductors. IEEE J. Select. Topics Quant. Electron. 19, 8401005-1–8401005-5 (2013).
Tarekegne, A. T., Iwaszczuk, K., Zalkovskij, M., Strikwerda, A. C. & Jepsen, P. U. Impact ionization in high resistivity silicon induced by an intense terahertz field enhanced by an antenna array. New J. Phys. 17, 043002-1–043002-9 (2015).
doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/17/4/043002
Shin, H. J. et al. High-field nonlinear conductivities of n- and p-type GaAs thin films in the terahertz region. Curr. Appl. Phys. 16, 793–798 (2016).
doi: 10.1016/j.cap.2016.04.017
Chai, X. et al. Subcycle terahertz nonlinear optics. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 143901-1–143901-6 (2018).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.143901
Shin, H. J., Nguyen, V. L., Lim, S. C. & Son, J.-H. Ultrafast nonlinear travel of hot carriers driven by high-field terahertz pulse. J. Phys. B At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 51, 144003-1–144003-14 (2018).
doi: 10.1088/1361-6455/aac59a
Ganichev, S. D. & Prettl, W. Intense Terahertz Excitation of Semiconductors (Oxford University Press, New York, 2006).
Ganichev, S. D. et al. Impact ionization in a semiconductor in a light wave. Pis’ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 40, 187–190 (1984). (JETP Lett. 40, 948–951 (1984)).
Ganichev, S. D. et al. Impact ionization in semiconductors under the influence of the electric field of an optical wave. Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 90, 445–457 (1986). (JETP. 63, 256–263 (1986)).
Ganichev, S. D., Diener, J. & Prettl, W. Nonlinear far-infrared absorption in InSb at light impact ionization. Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 1977–1979 (1994).
doi: 10.1063/1.111712
Ašmontas, S., Raguotis, R. & Bumelienė, S. Monte Carlo calculations of the electron impact ionization in n-type InSb crystal. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 28, 025019-1–025019-3 (2013).
doi: 10.1088/0268-1242/28/2/025019
Ašmontas, S., Bumelienė, S., Gradauskas, J., Raguotis, R. & Sužiedėlis, A. intense terahertz pulse-induced impact ionization and electron dynamics in InAs. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 34, 075016 (2019).
doi: 10.1088/1361-6641/ab0ed4
Markelz, A. G., Asmar, N. G., Brar, B. & Gwinn, E. G. Interband impact ionization by terahertz illumination of inas heterostructures. Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 3975–3977 (1996).
doi: 10.1063/1.117842
Reklaitis, A. J. Electron transport in semiconductors in the presence of impact ionization. J. Phys. Chem. Solids. 42, 891–896 (1981).
doi: 10.1016/0022-3697(81)90014-7
Ridley, B. K. Quantum Processes in Semiconductors (Oxford University Press, New York, 2013).
doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199677214.001.0001
Mickevičius, R., Raguotis, R. & Reklaitis, A. Electron heatinging InSb in the presence of impact ionization. Phys. Technol. Poluprovodn. 16, 358–361 (1982).
Ašmontas, S., Raguotis, R. & Bumelienė, S. Monte Carlo study of impact ionization in InSb induced by intense ultrashort terahertz pulses. Appl. Phys. A Mater. Sci. Process 120, 1241–1245 (2015).
doi: 10.1007/s00339-015-9322-x
Ašmontas, S., Raguotis, R. & Bumelienė, S. Monte Carlo study of impact ionization in n-type InAs induced by intense ultrashort terahertz pulses. Opt. Quantum Electr. 50, 264-1–264-9 (2018).
doi: 10.1007/s11082-018-1528-7
Jacoboni, C. & Lugli, P. The Monte Carlo Method for Semiconductor Device Simulation (Springer, Wien, 1989).
doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-6963-6
Curby, R. C. & Ferry, D. K. Impact ionization in narrow gap semiconductors. Phys. Stat. Sol. (A) 15, 319–328 (1973).
doi: 10.1002/pssa.2210150136
Tanimura, H., Kanasaki, J. & Tanimura, K. State-resolved ultrafast dynamics of impact ionization in InSb. Sci. Rep. 4, 6849. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep06849 (2014).
doi: 10.1038/srep06849
pubmed: 25355408
pmcid: 4213792
Tanimura, H., Kanasaki, J. & Tanimura, K. Ultrafast scattering processes of hot electrons in InSb studied by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. B. 91, 045201-1–045201-16 (2015).
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.91.045201