MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF HOT-ELECTRON TRANSPORT IN SI USING A UNIFIED PSEUDOPOTENTIAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CRYSTAL

We have constructed a unique Monte Carlo simulation which takes into account (i) the bandstructure of the semiconductor, (ii) the anisotropy of the scattering rates due to both the density-of-states and the electron-phonon matrix elements, (iii) realistic phonon dispersion, and (iv) an impact ionization scattering rate including the anisotropy of the rate and the intracollisional field effect. The sole inputs to the simulation are the empirical local pseudopotential form factors of the semiconductor, and an appropriate dynamical matrix to describe the lattice dynamics. The only freedom we have in constructing the transport model is in choosing an interpolation of the pseudopotential between 'known' form factors. This is necessary for the calculation of the rigid pseudo-ion matrix elements. This computational model provides us for the first time with a rigorous test of our ability to formulate and calculate semiclassical transport properties based on fundamental physical principles, i.e., we calculate both the bandstructure and the electron-phonon interaction using the same pseudopotentials to describe the periodic crystal potential.