Enhancing hole mobility in III-V semiconductors

Transistors based on Ill-V semiconductor materials have been used for a variety of analog and high frequency applications driven by the high electron mobilities in materials. On the other hand, the hole mobility in materials has always lagged compared to group-IV semiconductors such as germanium. In this paper, we explore the use of strain and heterostructure design guided by bandstructure modeling to enhance the hole mobility in III-V materials. Parameters such as strain, valence band offset, effective masses, and splitting between the light and heavy hole bands that are important for optimizing hole transport are measured quantitatively using various experimental techniques. A peak Hall mobility for the holes of 960 cm(2)/Vs is demonstrated and the high hole mobility is maintained even at high sheet charge. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718381]