MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF MINORITY-CARRIER TRANSPORT AND LIGHT-EMISSION PHENOMENA IN GAAS DEVICES

We present a theoretical study of hot-carrier-induced light emission i n III-V semiconductor devices. Carrier heating in the intense electric fields present under high-bias conditions is studied using self-consi stent Monte Carlo simulations. The carrier distribution functions obta ined from the simulation are then incorporated into a pseudopotential algorithm that describes the direct optical transitions and calculates the corresponding spectra. We show that, in general, no straightforwa rd extrapolation of 'carrier temperatures' from the slope of the measu red spectra is possible. Our analysis indicates that light emission du e to hot carriers is made up by direct radiative interband transitions within the conduction and valence bands as well as between them.