Carrier Scattering Rates in Zincblende Structure Semiconductors derived from 14 × 14 k · p and ab initio Pseudopotential Methods

Abstract

A set of programs for calculating carrier-phonon and carrier-alloy scat-tering rates have been constructed. Energy bands, gradients of the energy, second derivatives of the energy and eigenvectors of the carrier states were first calculated using a 14 × 14 kp-method. Scattering rates were then derived, based upon the calculations of the developed kp software. Furthermore, scattering rates have also been derived using band structures from the ab initio pseudopotential code ABINIT. A program for setting up ABINIT calculations on a projector augmented wave (PAW) basis, as well as software for converting the band data into the required input format for scattering rate calculations have been developed. Finally, the results produced from both band structure methods are discussed and compared. This analysis has been made for the specific case of the zincblende structure Hg_(1−x)Cd_xTe at temperatures 77K and 300K