Charge carrier transport and lifetimes in n-type and p-type phosphorene as 2D device active materials: an ab initio study

TL;DR

This study uses first principles calculations to analyze charge carrier transport, scattering rates, and lifetimes in phosphorene, highlighting its potential for stable electronic and optoelectronic device applications.

Contribution

It provides detailed ab initio data on electron and hole scattering, impact ionization, and recombination processes in phosphorene under high electric fields and doping.

Findings

Electron impact ionization is weaker than hole impact ionization.

Minority electron lifetimes are limited by radiative recombination.

Phosphorene shows resilience to impact ionization breakdown.

Abstract

In this work, we provide a detailed analysis of phosphorene performance as n-type and p-type active materials. The study is based on first principles calculation of phosphorene electronic structure, and resulting electron and hole scattering rates and lifetimes. Emphasis is put on extreme regimes commonly found in semiconductor devices, i.e. high electric fields and heavy doping, where impact ionization and Auger recombination can occur. We found that electron-initiated impact ionization is weaker than the hole-initiated process, when compared to carrier-phonon interaction rates, suggesting resilience to impact ionization initiated breakdown. Moreover, calculated minority electron lifetimes are limited by radiative recombination only, not by Auger processes, suggesting that phosphorene could achieve good quantum efficiencies in optoelectronic devices. The provided scattering rates and lifetimes are critical input data for the modeling and understanding of phosphorene-based device physics.