Microscopic theory of hot-carrier relaxation in semiconductor-based quantum-cascade lasers

Applied Physics Letters

Volumn 76, Issue 16, 2000, Pages 2265-2267

  Iotti, Rita C ^a,b   Rossi, Fausto ^a  

^a POLITECNICO DI TORINO   (Italy)

^b SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE   (Italy)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0001667831     PISSN: 00036951     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1063/1.126316     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. J. Shah, Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Nanostructures (Springer, Berlin, 1996); Theory of Transport Properties of Semiconductor Nanostructures, edited by E. Schöll (Chapman and Hall, London, 1998).
2. J. Shah, Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Nanostructures (Springer, Berlin, 1996); Theory of Transport Properties of Semiconductor Nanostructures, edited by E. Schöll (Chapman and Hall, London, 1998).
3. Physics of Quantum Electron Devices, edited by F. Capasso (Springer, Berlin, 1990).
4. F. Capasso, W. T. Tsang, and G. F. Williams, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices ED-30, 381 (1983); B. F. Levine, J. Appl. Phys. 74, R1 (1993); S. Barberi, F. Mango, F. Beltram, M. Lazzarino, and L. Sorba Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 250 (1995).
5. F. Capasso, W. T. Tsang, and G. F. Williams, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices ED-30, 381 (1983); B. F. Levine, J. Appl. Phys. 74, R1 (1993); S. Barberi, F. Mango, F. Beltram, M. Lazzarino, and L. Sorba Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 250 (1995).
6. F. Capasso, W. T. Tsang, and G. F. Williams, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices ED-30, 381 (1983); B. F. Levine, J. Appl. Phys. 74, R1 (1993); S. Barberi, F. Mango, F. Beltram, M. Lazzarino, and L. Sorba Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 250 (1995).
7. J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, and A. Y. Cho, Science 264, 553 (1994); G. Scamarcio, F. Capasso, C. Sirtori, J. Faist, A. L. Hutchinson, D. L. Sivco, and A. Y. Cho, ibid. 276, 773 (1997); A. Tredicucci, C. Gmachl, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, Nature 396, 350 (1998).
8. J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, and A. Y. Cho, Science 264, 553 (1994); G. Scamarcio, F. Capasso, C. Sirtori, J. Faist, A. L. Hutchinson, D. L. Sivco, and A. Y. Cho, ibid. 276, 773 (1997); A. Tredicucci, C. Gmachl, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, Nature 396, 350 (1998).
9. J. Faist, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, C. Sirtori, and A. Y. Cho, Science 264, 553 (1994); G. Scamarcio, F. Capasso, C. Sirtori, J. Faist, A. L. Hutchinson, D. L. Sivco, and A. Y. Cho, ibid. 276, 773 (1997); A. Tredicucci, C. Gmachl, F. Capasso, D. L. Sivco, A. L. Hutchinson, and A. Y. Cho, Nature 396, 350 (1998).
10. S. Barberi, F. Beltram, and F. Rossi, Phys. Rev. B 60, 1953 (1999), and references therein.
11. 2>0).
12. C. Jacoboni and P. Lugli, The Monte Carlo Method for Semiconductor Device Simulations (Springer, Wien, 1989).
13. This is based on a time-step separation between injection/loss and scattering contributions [see Eq. (2)] similar to the generalized MC technique used for the analysis of coherent vs incoherent phenomena in photoexcited semiconductors [T. Kuhn and F. Rossi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 977 (1992); Phys. Rev. B 46, 7496 (1992)].
14. This is based on a time-step separation between injection/loss and scattering contributions [see Eq. (2)] similar to the generalized MC technique used for the analysis of coherent vs incoherent phenomena in photoexcited semiconductors [T. Kuhn and F. Rossi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 977 (1992); Phys. Rev. B 46, 7496 (1992)].
15. V. Sirtori, P. Kruck, S. Barbieri, P. Collot, and J. Nagle, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 3486 (1998).
16. ν has been considered. In our simulation, carriers are injected into level three and extracted from level one with best efficiency. In real structures this injection/loss process strongly depends on the operative conditions (mainly current and temperature) of the device in a nontrivial way. In the present scheme, however, a phenomenological modeling of this dependence would in any case be questionable.
17. 1.
18. As discussed in Ref. 5, carrier-optical phonon scattering depends strongly on the in-plane momentum transfer.
19. Contrary to interband gain spectra, we deal with very sharp peaks, whose line width is not affected by in-plane parabolic dispersion.