Bandstructure effect on high-field transport in GaN and GaAlN

Abstract

The velocity-field characteristics in zinc-blende GaN are calculated from the Boltzmann equation, using realistic energy bands taken from ab initio theory. The drift velocity and the high-field negative differential resistance are shown to be largely determined by the inflection point in the bands centered around the Γ valley, instead of the usual intervalley scattering. We analyze the relative importance of these competing mechanisms for GaN and Al0.5Ga0.5N. The importance of this anomaly to device properties is also discussed.