Elastic Electron Scattering in InSb‐Type Semiconductors

Abstract

Abstract Relaxation times for elastic electron scattering in III–V compounds of InSb type are calculated taking into account consistently the nonparabolic structure of the conduction band, both in the density of states and electron wave functions. The calculations are based on the Kane model of band structure, including explicitly mixing of p‐like components into the total wave function of the conduction band. Electron scattering by charged impurities and heavy holes, optical phonons (polar interaction), acoustic phonons, and piezo‐acoustic modes are considered. Screening by free electrons is included in the long‐range interactions and shown to play an important role at higher electron concentrations. Both spin‐conserving and spin‐flip transitions are considered for all modes. It is demonstrated that transverse branches participate appreciably in acoustic scattering at high electron energies. In all cases, the presented calculations give much higher values of the theoretical mobilities for heavily doped samples than those obtained up to now taking into account only the proper density of states.