Phonon scattering and energy relaxation in two-, one-, and zero-dimensional electron gases

U. Bockelmann and G. Bastard
Phys. Rev. B 42, 8947 – Published 15 November 1990
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Abstract

We report on calculations of intrasubband and intersubband phonon scattering in quantum-confined electron gases based on lattice-matched InxGa1xAs/InP quantum wells. Dimensionality effects on the emission of acoustic phonons are studied comparing the scattering times of two-, one-, and zero-dimensional electron gases as a function of the lateral confinement. Optical phonon scattering in quantum wells and wires is discussed using a phenomenological broadening of the one-dimensional density of states. The energy relaxation rates of heated electron gases due to phonon emission and absorption have been calculated for lattice temperatures Tl between 0.3 and 20 K. For a given heating power per electron, the electron temperature Te in a quantum wire can be greater or smaller than that in the corresponding quantum well, depending on the electron density ns, while the energy relaxation in quantum dots with significant quantization energies is always slower than in the corresponding wells and wires.

  • Received 25 May 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.42.8947

©1990 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

U. Bockelmann

  • Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75005 Paris, France
  • Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universität München, D-8046 Garching bei München, West Germany

G. Bastard

  • Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75005 Paris, France

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Vol. 42, Iss. 14 — 15 November 1990

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