THE EFFECT OF ELECTRON EFFECTIVE-MASS MISMATCH ON THE ELECTRON-OPTICAL-PHONON SCATTERING RATE IN A QUANTUM-WELL STRUCTURE

The effective mass mismatch of a conduction-band electron in a semicon ductor quantum well structure brings about a novel confinement of the electron movement along the well-growth direction in addition to the c onduction-band offset. Using the electron-optical-phonon interaction H amiltonian of the dielectric continuum model, we calculate the scatter ing rates due to the interaction of the electron with the well, barrie r and interface phonons respectively. By comparison with the correspon ding results for the case without the electron effective mass mismatch it is shown that the electron effective mass mismatch has a remarkabl e influence on the scattering rate, especially for relatively high ele ctron energy, and much attention should be paid to it.