Effect of electron scattering on second derivative ballistic electron emission spectroscopy in Au/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures

We present a quantitative study of the second voltage derivative (SD) of ba llistic electron emission spectra of Au/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures to pro be the effect of electron scattering on these spectra. Our analysis of the SD spectra shows that strong electron scattering occurs at the nonepitaxial Au/GaAs interface, leading to an experimentally observed redistribution of current among the electron transport channels. We also show that the effec ts of hot-electron scattering inside the semiconductor modify the spectra a nd are sensitive to the heterojunction band structure, its geometry, and te mperature. [S0031-9007(99)09041-9].