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IC/99/148

United _\a.t;ions Educational Scientific a,nrl Cultural Organization and International Atomic Energy Agency THE ABDUS SALAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS

NONLINEAR ACOUSTOELECTRIC EFFECT IN SEMICONDUCTOR SUPERLATTICE

S.Y. Mensah1 Department of Physics. Laser and Fibre Optics Centre. University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana and The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, F.K.A. AUotey National Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Charm Atomic Energy Commission, Kwabe.nya, Accra, Ghana and The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics Trieste, Italy and N.G. Mensah Department of Mathematics, University of Gape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.

MIRAMARE - TRIESTE October 1999

'Regular Associate of tlie Abtlus Stilani ICTP.

Abstract
Acoustoelectric effect in semiconductor superlatt.ice(SL) has been studied for a hypersound in llio region ql 3? 1. A nonlinear dependence of the acoustoclociric current j"'l: on the constant electric field E is observed. It is noted that when the electric field is negative the current j
a c

rises, reaches a peak and fails off. On the other hand, when the electric field is positive the cuiTcni decreases, reaches a peak and ihen rises. A similar observation has been noted for an acoustoelectric interaction in a multilayered structure resulting from the analysis of the Si/SiO^ structure. The dominant mechanism for such a. behaviour is attributed to the periodicity of the energy spectrum along ihe ST. axis.

Introduction

Electron transport in semiconductor superlattice(SL) or milltiquantum well structure is usually governed by drift, diffusive and tunneling current flow. A ballistic carrier motion can also be observed, provided that the size of the system is smaller than the mean-free path, ranging up lo some hundred microns in some pure material. Conceptually different from those mechanisms are transport phenomena based on energy and momentum transfer from externally propagating entities to the electron medium. Such "dragging" experiments have been studied in great detail in double electron layer systems [1] where internal "Coulomb friction" between the two layers causes the dragging force, "Photon drag" induced transport was observed for intersubband transitions of a quasi-two-dimensional electron system(2DES) [2], In [3] Nagamune et al. observed the effect of a. dc current on the drift of optically generated carriers in a quantum well. Another interesting mechanism based on the transfer of energy and momentum is the interaction of acoustic phonons with carrier charges in semiconductor materials. This mechanism occurs not only during the scattering of quasi-momentum carriers with lattice vibrations but also when acoustic waves propagate through the material. Among the effects observed are the absorption (amplification) of acoustic waves [4-7], aeonstoelectrie effect(AE) [8-13], a.constomagnetoelectric effect(AME) [14-18], aeoustothermal effect [19] and acoustomagnetothermal effect [19], These phenomena have, however, received very little attention in SL even though they have immense device applications. The interaction between surface acoustic; wave(SAW) and mobile charges in semiconductor layered structures has become an important method to study the dynamic conductivity of low-dimensional systems in quantum wells. These studies include the quantum Hall effect [20], the fractional quant urn Hall effect [21]. Fermi surfaces of composite Fermions around a half-filled Landau level [22], and commensurability effects caused by the lateral superlattiee induced by SAW [23]. It has also been noted that the transverse acoustoelectric voltage(TAV) is sensitive to the mobility and to the carrier concentration in the semiconductor, thus it has been used to provide a characterization of electric properties of semiconductors [24]. Interface state density [25], junction depth[2tl], and carrier mobility [27] have been measured with this method. Recently TAV has been proposed as an effective tool in the measurement of microstructures and superlattiee parameters [28-31]. In this paper we shall endeavor to extend [32] to cover the nonlinear relation of the acoustoelectric current with the constant electric held. Acoustoelectric effect is the transfer of momentum from the acoustic waves to the conduction electrons as a result of which may give rise to a. current usually called the acoustoelectric current j'"'- or in the case of an open circuit, a constant electric field Eac. The study of this effect is vital because of the complimentary role it may play in the understanding of the properties of the SL which we believe should find an important place in the acoustoelectronic devices. Experimental evidence of the dependence of the acoustoelectric effect
3

on the parameters of SL has been reported in [33], In [31] experimental work on the acoustoelectric interaction of SAW in GaAs inGaAs superlattice has been reported. A theoretical model for measuring TAV in mullilayered structure resulting from the analysis of ihc Si/S1O2 has also been reported in [34]. In that work analytical results were compared with experiments. In this work, it will be shown that the presence of the minibands in the SL will result in a, nonlinear dependence of the j a c and the ratio ^- (where P is the absorption coefficient) on the wave number q. Also, in the presence of an applied constant electric field E a threshold value Eo is obtained where the acoustoelectric current changes sign. Finally it will be noted that the acoustoeleetric current rises and reaches a peak then drops in a manner similar to the negative differential conductivity observed in SL in the presence of constant electric field. This paper is organised as follows. Tn section 2 we outline the theory and conditions necessary to solve the problem. In section 3 we discuss the results and finally in section 4 we draw some conclusions. 2 Theory

Proceeding as in [32] we calculate the acoustoeleetric current in SL, The acoustic wave will be considered as a hypersound in the region ql 3> 1 (if is the electron mean free path, q is the acoustic wave number) and then treated as a packet of coherent phonons(monochrornat.ic phomms) having a 5 function distribution ^08(k-q) h=l (1)

where k is the phonon wavevector, Ti is Planck's constant divided by 2TT. <p is the sound mix density, and LJ9 and < are respectively the frequency and the group velocity of sound wave with .? the wavevector q. It is assumed that the sound wave and the applied constant electric; held E propagate along the z axis of the SL. The problem will be solved in the qua si-classical ca.se. i.e. 2A 3> T~l^ cEd < 2A (d is the period of SL. 2A is the width of the lowest energy miiiiband and e is the C electron charge). The density of the acoustoeleetric; current can then be written in the form [17] (2)

where

-P-g ~ eP ~

and \?j (jr;) is the solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation in the absence of a magnetic; field. If we introduce a. new term p = p q in the first term of the intergra.ls in eqn(3) and take account,

of the fact that

G

P',P

G p,p

(-0

we t:a,n express eqn(3) in the form

r = -.
9) -

\G(p,,i)\2[f p+q-f(ep)] \ [f(e

where the vector ^;(p). as indicated in [35], is the mean free path l.-i(p). Thus the acoustoelectric current in eqn(5) in the direction of SL axis becomes \G(p..q)\2[f(eplll)-f(eI>)} -lz(p)]Hr-p-<i-<-,>-^)d-]p
(6)

where f(ep) is the distribution function, p is the momentum of electrons, G{j)z. q) is the matrix element of ihe elcclron-phonon interaction and for qd ^ 1 it is given as

IV

(7)

where A is the deformation potential constant, a is the density of the ST.. As indicated in [32], in the r approximation and further when r in taken to be constant,
(-. = TVZ

(8)

where
(9)

Inserting eqns(7) and (8) into cqn(6), we obtain

(10)

The distribution function in the presence of the applied constant field E is obtained by solving the Boltzmann equation in the r approximation. This is given by

f(p) = /
Jti

-cxp(-t/r)Mp
T

- cEt),

(11)

Here (12)

whererc-is the electron density, T is the temperature in energy units and /n(x) is the modified Bessel function. The key physical parameter describing ihe eleclron distribution in ihe bands is the dispersion relation, for superlattkes the dispersion law is given by

In cqn(13). p i and p z are the transverse and longitudinal (relative to the superlattiee axis) components of the quasi momentum, respectively. A,, is the half width of the i/1'1 allowed miniband,

are the size-quanti/ed levels in an isolated conduction film, d = d0 + <h (d0 is the width of the rectangular potential wells and d-\ is the baiTicr width with a 11011 zero quantum transparency) is the superlattiee period. We assume that electrons are confined to the lowest conduction rniniband {y = 1) and omit the mmiband indices. This is to say that the field does not induce transitions between the filled and empty mini bands. The electron velocity is given by

(15)

We further assume that e.v = A,, and write eqn(l;i) in the usual form as

Substituting eqns(ll). (15) and eqn(lfi) into eqn(5) and solving for a non-degenerate electron gas we obtain for the acoustoelectric current

ff = -

(17) where 0 is ihe Hoavisidc slep function, b = 3 Results and discussion

We shall solve cqn(17) for two particular cases, (i) In the absence of the applied constant field (E=0), from eqn(17) we obtain

It can be observed from eqn(18) that, when uq 3> 2Asin(r/ri/2). j'*c = 0 i.e. there appears a, iransparency window. This is a. consequence of ihe conservation law. Under this condition there is no absorption of acoustic waves hence no acoustoelcctric current [36], The SL can therefore be used as an acoustic wave filter. It is also observed that the dependence of flc on q is strongly non-linear. The ratio f S where T~ is calculated under the same conditions as in [36], is given by
=

_2c T J

Hence, we observe that jz/Tr, depends on the wave number q, i.e. it has a spatial dispersion. This behaviour is unlike the homogeneous semiconductor (bulk material) which is independent of q. It is worth noting that, at A 3> T. when the SL is behaving as a homogeneous semiconductor, jz/V~ as given in eqn(19) satisfies the Weinrekh relation

As stated in [35] the change in sign of the acoustoelectric current can be attributed to the fact that the main contribution of the acoustoelcctric current at qd c^ 2TT is from electrons near the top of the miiiiband, i.e. by electrons with a negative mass. (ii) In a weak constant electric field, e.Edr < 1, ujq <C T, from eqn(17) we obtain

(21)

From eqn(21) it is observed that at

the acoustoelectric current, changes sign. The value Ey t:a,n be interpreted as a. threshold field. E(] is a function of the SL parameters d and A, and temperature T, frequency tufl and the wavenumber q. For example, at A/T 5 x 10'Vms
1

<Cl, A = ().lf.;Vr. d = a x W~'cmt r = 10~ 1J , s =

1

and w,, = \0lQs

. For these values we obtain the threshold field E^=S.6oV cm

which is small and can be observed. The general solution of eqn(17) cannot be solved analytically. We, therefore, obtained it numerically and ihe graph of j"f on E plotted (see figures 1 and 2). The dependence of j"f on E for given A is presented in fig.l. It is noted that the acoustoelectric current has a peak at some values E. These peaks decrease with a corresponding decrease of A. More interesting is the nature of Uie acoustoelectric current. Tt is observed that when the electric field is negative the current rises, readies a maximum and then falls of in a manner similar to that observed during a, negative differential conductivity. On the other hand, when the electric field is positive the current decreases, reaches a minimum then increases. This can be attributed to the Bragg reflection at the band edge. It is further observed that the ratio of the height of the peak corresponding to absorption to that corresponding to amplification diner from one. This value also decreases with a decrease in A. The threshold field EQ also increases with the decrease of A. It is noteworthy to show that a similar nonlinear relation was obtained for a TAV experiment on Si/SiO-2 and this result agrees quite well with our rcsult[34]. In fig.2 the dependence of j?,c on E is plotted for given x;,. We observed a decrease and shift of the peak values as LJ-q decreases. The threshold field EQ also increases with increase in LJq. 4 Conclusions

We have studied a.constoelectric effect in superlattice in the presence of constant electric field and noted a strong nonlinear dependence of ;jf: on E which strongly depends on A and tu,r The dominant mechanism for such nonlinear behaviour is the periodicity of the energy spectrum along the SL axis. We observed that a transparency window is formed whenever uJf/ > 2Asin(gd/2), i.e. j " c = 0. We attributed the cause to the presence of the conservation laws and suggested the use of SL a,s a phonon filter. Finally, we noted that there exists a threshold field i' u for which the aeoustoelectric current changes sign and that this value increases with a decrease in A and increases with an increase in toq.

Acknowledgements
This work was done within the framework of the Associatcship Scheme of the Abdus Salani International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Trieste. Italy. Financial support from the Swedish Tnlemaiional Development Cooperation Agency is acknowledged.

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Solid State Communications 78 823

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10

"

Fig. 1. Dependence of J^/J? _ _ A = 0.07eV;

on ^ A = O.leV; A = 0.05eV

A = 0.09 eV;

II

-3

-2.S

-2

"1.5

"I

-0.5

(1

0.5

1.5

2.5

Fig. 2. Dependence of J^/J u), = 7.8x tu, = 7.9 x

on

eEdr

wq = 1.2 x Wq = 3.8 x

12