Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride

This thesis presents an experimental investigation of the electron-phonon interaction in GaN. Bulk epilayers, grown by MBE, and AIGaN/GaN heterostructures, grown by MOCVD, have been studied. The energy relaxation rate for hot electrons has been measured over a wide range of temperatures, allowing bo...

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Main Author: Stanton, Nicola Marie
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2001
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14212/
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author Stanton, Nicola Marie
author_facet Stanton, Nicola Marie
author_sort Stanton, Nicola Marie
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This thesis presents an experimental investigation of the electron-phonon interaction in GaN. Bulk epilayers, grown by MBE, and AIGaN/GaN heterostructures, grown by MOCVD, have been studied. The energy relaxation rate for hot electrons has been measured over a wide range of temperatures, allowing both acoustic and optic phonon emission to be studied in GaN epilayers. Direct phonon measurements, both studying the emission and absorption processes, have been performed. Detection of phonons emitted when hot electrons relax their excess energy complements the measurements of relaxation rates. Absorption of acoustic phonons by the epilayers, using both fixed and extended metal film phonon sources, allowed investigation into the effectiveness of the 2kF cutoff in the low mobility layers. The experimental findings are compared with the predictions of theory. AIGaN/GaN heterostructures were characterised and measurements of the energy relaxation rate in the temperature range 4K-40K obtained. Excellent agreement with theory is observed. A preliminary study of phonon absorption by the 2DEG system is presented, which allowed experimental determination of the "thickness" of the 2DEG and demonstrated the applicability of the technique in the study of low dimensional systems.
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spelling nottingham-142122025-02-28T11:29:27Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14212/ Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride Stanton, Nicola Marie This thesis presents an experimental investigation of the electron-phonon interaction in GaN. Bulk epilayers, grown by MBE, and AIGaN/GaN heterostructures, grown by MOCVD, have been studied. The energy relaxation rate for hot electrons has been measured over a wide range of temperatures, allowing both acoustic and optic phonon emission to be studied in GaN epilayers. Direct phonon measurements, both studying the emission and absorption processes, have been performed. Detection of phonons emitted when hot electrons relax their excess energy complements the measurements of relaxation rates. Absorption of acoustic phonons by the epilayers, using both fixed and extended metal film phonon sources, allowed investigation into the effectiveness of the 2kF cutoff in the low mobility layers. The experimental findings are compared with the predictions of theory. AIGaN/GaN heterostructures were characterised and measurements of the energy relaxation rate in the temperature range 4K-40K obtained. Excellent agreement with theory is observed. A preliminary study of phonon absorption by the 2DEG system is presented, which allowed experimental determination of the "thickness" of the 2DEG and demonstrated the applicability of the technique in the study of low dimensional systems. 2001-12-14 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14212/1/368233.pdf Stanton, Nicola Marie (2001) Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
spellingShingle Stanton, Nicola Marie
Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title_full Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title_fullStr Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title_full_unstemmed Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title_short Experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
title_sort experimental studies of electron-phonon interactions in gallium nitride
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14212/