High field electron transport properties of bulk ZnO

The Monte Carlo method is used to simulate electron transport for electric field strengths up to 350 kV/cm in bulk, wurtzite structure ZnO. The relevant parts of the conduction bands of a first-principles band structure are approximated by spherically symmetric, nonparabolic valleys located at the Gamma and U-min symmetry points of the Brillouin zone. It is shown that the analytic expressions represent the band structure and the density of states well over a range of nearly 5 eV from the bottom of the conduction band. The simulated electron steady-state drift velocity versus electric field characteristics are calculated for lattice temperatures of 300, 450, and 600 K. For room temperature, drift velocities higher than 3 x 10(7) cm/s are reached at fields near 250 kV/cm. Examination of the electron energy distributions shows that the strong decrease of the differential mobility with increasing electric field in the field range studied is to be associated with the pronounced nonparabolicity of the central valley and not with transfer of electrons to satellite valleys. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)07224-2].