Hot hole transport and noise phenomena in silicon at cryogenic temperatures from first principles

TL;DR

This paper investigates the microscopic origins of anomalous hot hole transport and noise phenomena in silicon at cryogenic temperatures using ab-initio theory, revealing new insights into drift velocity saturation and noise behavior.

Contribution

It extends a recent ab-initio theory to explain the microscopic mechanisms behind hot hole transport and noise anomalies in silicon at cryogenic temperatures.

Findings

Drift velocity anomaly linked to acoustic phonon emission scattering.

Identification of a second drift velocity saturation regime at ~40 K.

Non-monotonic noise trend explained by decreasing momentum relaxation time.

Abstract

The transport properties of hot holes in silicon at cryogenic temperatures exhibit several anomalous features, including the emergence of two distinct saturated drift velocity regimes and a non-monotonic trend of the current noise versus electric field at microwave frequencies. Despite prior investigations, these features lack generally accepted explanations. Here, we examine the microscopic origin of these phenomena by extending a recently developed ab-initio theory of high-field transport and noise in semiconductors. We find that the drift velocity anomaly may be attributed to scattering dominated by acoustic phonon emission, leading to an additional regime of drift velocity saturation at temperatures $\sim 40$ K for which the acoustic phonon occupation is negligible; while the non-monotonic trend in the current noise arises due to the decrease in momentum relaxation time with electric field. The former conclusion is consistent with the findings of prior work, but the latter distinctly differs from previous explanations. This work highlights the use of high-field transport and noise phenomena as sensitive probes of microscopic charge transport phenomena in semiconductors.