STRUCTURED-BASE HOT-ELECTRON TRANSISTORS .1. SCATTERING RATES

An analysis of electronic structure and scattering in GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices suggests the possibility of a new class of electronic device exploiting the properties of hot electrons in the higher sub-bands. In particular it is shown that the electron mass in the higher sub-bands can be very low, leading to high-sub-band mobility, and the inter-sub-band scattering can be strongly suppressed, leading to long energy relaxation times and very long quasi-ballistic path lengths. It is suggested that these ideas can be readily adapted to achieve high transport factors in hot-electron transistors by replacing the conventional homogeneous-base region by an appropriate superlattice.