Enhancing hole mobility in III-V semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates methods to improve hole mobility in III-V semiconductors through strain and heterostructure design, achieving a peak Hall mobility of 960cm2/Vs, which is significant for high-performance electronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a bandstructure-guided approach using strain and heterostructure engineering to significantly enhance hole mobility in III-V materials.

Findings

Peak hole mobility of 960cm2/Vs achieved

High hole mobility maintained at high sheet charge

Quantitative measurement of bandstructure parameters

Abstract

Transistors based on III-V semiconductor materials have been used for a variety of analog and high frequency applications driven by the high electron mobilities in III-V materials. On the other hand, the hole mobility in III-V materials has always lagged compared to group-IV semiconductors such as silicon and germanium. In this paper we explore the used of strain and heterostructure design guided by bandstructure modeling to enhance the hole mobility in III-V materials. Parameters such as strain, valence band offset, effective masses and splitting between the light and heavy hole bands that are important for optimizing hole transport are measured quantitatively using various experimental techniques. A peak Hall mobility for the holes of 960cm2/Vs is demonstrated and the high hole mobility is maintained even at high sheet charge.