Sa. Plimmer et al., SPATIAL LIMITATIONS TO THE APPLICATION OF THE LUCKY-DRIFT THEORY OF IMPACT IONIZATION, I.E.E.E. transactions on electron devices, 44(4), 1997, pp. 659-663
Multiplication characteristics predicted by the lucky-drift (LD) theor
y of impact ionization are compared to experimental results on a range
of thin GaAs PIN diodes with i-region thicknesses, omega, from 1 mu m
down to 0.025 mu m. Whereas lucky-drift and experimental results are
in agreement for omega greater than or equal to 0.1 mu m, significant
differences are observed for thinner structures where nonlocal effects
are important. Multiplication characteristics predicted by Monte-Carl
o (MC) and lucky-drift simulations which use the same material paramet
ers and produce the same bulk ionization rates are also compared and d
ifferences are again found in the multiplication characteristics of th
inner structures, These differences are attributed to the lucky-drift
description of carrier transport and establish a lower spatial limit t
o the application of this theory.