New physical formulation of the thermionic emission current at the heterojunction interface

Author

Chang, Kow-Ming ; Tsai, Jung-Yu ; Chang, Chun-Yen

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Nat. Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu, Taiwan

Volume

14

Issue

7

fYear

1993

fDate

7/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

338

Lastpage

341

Abstract

The thermionic emission current for electrons across the heterojunction interface is classically modeled as the difference between two opposing electron fluxes. A new, consistent, physical model, which includes the carrier degeneracy and nonideal behavior effects, is presented. It is shown that the emission current at the interface can be expressed in a simple closed-form formalism that gives the relationships among the average directional thermal velocity of electrons, the conduction band discontinuity, and the carrier activities at both sides of the interface. The conditions under which the thermionic emission occurs at the heterointerface are discussed.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; conduction bands; gallium arsenide; p-n heterojunctions; thermionic electron emission; GaAlAs-GaAs heterojunction; average directional thermal velocity of electrons; carrier activities; carrier degeneracy; classical modelling; closed-form formalism; conduction band discontinuity; electron fluxes; heterojunction interface; nonideal behavior effects; p-n heterojunction; physical model; thermionic emission current; Electron emission; Heterojunctions; Thermal conductivity; Thermionic emission;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.225566

Filename

225566