Free-carrier absorption in n-type piezoelectric semiconductor films

Abstract

Free-carrier absorption in n-type GaAs films has been investigated for the case where the free carriers are confined in a quasi-two-dimensional semiconducting structure with a non-parabolic energy band of electrons. It is assumed that the carriers in semiconductors are scattered by acoustic phonons via firstly the deformation-potential coupling and secondly the piezoelectric coupling. Results show that the free-carrier absorption coefficient depends upon the polarization of the electromagnetic radiation relative to the direction normal to the quasi-two-dimensional structure, the film thickness, the photon frequency and the temperature of the semiconductors. The free-carrier absorption coefficient could be complex owing to the interaction of photons, phonons and conduction electrons in piezoelectric semiconductors. Firstly, when the deformation-potential coupling is dominant, the absorption coefficient increases with decreasing photon frequency and increasing temperature for the radiation field polarized parallel and perpendicular to the layer plane. It is also shown that the absorption coefficient increases with decreasing film thickness. Secondly, when the piezoelectric scattering is dominant, the absorption coefficient increases with decreasing photon frequency and decreasing film thickness for the radiation field polarized parallel and perpendicular to the layer plane. However, the absorption coefficient increases with increasing temperature for the radiation field polarized parallel to the layer plane while, for the radiation field polarized perpendicular to the layer plane, the absorption coefficient increases with decreasing temperature.