ELECTRON TRANSPORT IN β-Ga₂O₃ FROM FIRST-PRINCIPLES

The electron transport properties of β-Ga₂O₃ under low and high field conditions are discussed in this chapter. The computational details are kept to a minimum and more attention is given to the results to gain insight. The presence of multiple polar optical phonon modes limits the mobility around 200 cm²V^-1s^-1 at room temperature. The negative differential conductivity under high field condition is observed despite satellite valleys being remote. Impact ionization rates are calculated under very high field conditions and is found to be negligible after a certain energy level due to absence of close satellite valleys. A detailed study of the impact of different scattering mechanisms on 2-DEG mobility makes the basis of designing an improved device structure. The improvement in the 2-DEG mobility is predicted to be around ~500 cm²V^-1s^-1, which is more than twice when compared to bulk electron mobility. A comparison plot between the experimentally measured and the calculated mobility values at a wide range of temperature gives many insights pertaining to the electron transport in the 2-DEGs in heterostructures.