Threading dislocation lines and their impact on bulk cubic boron nitride’s low-field electron transport response

• Published in: Solid state communications 2022-11, Vol.356, p.114925, Article 114925
• Main Authors: Chilleri, John, Wang, Yana, O’Leary, Stephen K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cubic boron nitride; Fractional mobility contributions; Low-field electron transport response; Threading dislocation lines
• ISSN: 0038-1098; 1879-2766
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssc.2022.114925

Building upon Chilleri et al.’s [Solid State Commun. 352 (2022) 114776] relaxation-time approximation based low-field electron drift mobility formalism, we incorporate treatment of threading dislocation related scattering into this analytical framework. Then, for a reasonable range of threading dislocation line density selections, representative of boron nitride’s zinc-blende phase, the role that threading dislocation lines play in shaping the low-field electron transport response of this material is examined. The six scattering processes considered in this analysis include the ionized impurity, polar optical phonon, acoustic deformation potential, piezoelectric, inter-valley, and threading dislocation line related scattering processes. The impact of threading dislocations is assessed through evaluations of the scattering rates, the fractional scattering contributions, and the low-field electron drift mobility contributions associated with the various scattering processes. The dependence of the total low-field electron drift mobility on the threading dislocation line density is also examined. We conclude the analysis with a comparison with the results of experiment. Threading dislocation lines are found to be a significant contributor to bulk zinc-blende boron nitride’s low-field electron transport response. •We explore the role that threading dislocation lines play in shaping the low-field electron transport response of cubic boron nitride.•We add threading dislocation line related scattering to a low-field electron transport formalism.•The scattering rates and mobility contributions associated with the various scattering processes are determined.•Threading dislocation lines are shown to be a major contributor to this material’s low-field electron transport response.