Abstract
We present a detailed experimental and theoretical study of vertical ambipolar transport in semiconductor heterostructures. A high-resolution time-of-flight method using two vertically separated quantum wells of different well widths is applied to probe the carrier transport perpendicular to the heterointerfaces. By a numerical simulation the ambipolar diffusivities as well as surface and interface recombination velocities in GaAs/As structures are determined. This paper emphasizes the importance of surface and interface recombination for the analysis of the transport data. Alloy-disorder scattering is found to limit the ambipolar mobilities between 40 and 120 K in the As barriers with acoustic-deformation-potential and polar-optical scattering participating above 120 K. In addition to the transport properties, we also obtain information on carrier capture from the barrier layers into the quantum well as a function of temperature.
- Received 19 February 1991
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.13992
©1991 American Physical Society