The tailoring of impact ionization phenomenon using pseudomorphic structures-applications to InGaAlAs on GaAs and InP substrates

Abstract

The potential of utilizing strain for suppressing impact ionization is evaluated. It is found that if compressive strain is introduced without altering the bandgap (e.g. by using properly tailored InGaAlAs alloys) the threshold energy for electron impact ionization is significantly increased for both GaAs-based and InP-based materials.