Incorporation of GTR (generation–transport–recombination) in semiconductor simulations

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 2021-02, Vol.129 (5)
• Main Authors: Muneer, Sadid, Bakan, Gokhan, Gokirmak, Ali, Silva, Helena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; Asymmetry; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Electric fields; electronic band structure; Electronic devices; heat transfer; Heat treatment; High temperature; Majority carriers; Memory devices; Minority carriers; phase change memories; Physics; recombination reactions; thermal conductivity; thermodynamic states and processes; thermoelectric effects
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0037411

With the emergence of phase change memory, where the devices experience extreme thermal gradients (∼100 K/nm) during transitions between low and high resistive states, the study of thermoelectric effects at small scales becomes particularly relevant. We had earlier observed asymmetric melting of self-heated nano-crystalline silicon micro-wires, where current densities of ∼107 A/cm2 were forced through the wires by 1 μs, ∼30 V pulses. The extreme asymmetry can be explained by the generation of considerable amount of minority carriers, transport under the electric field, and recombination downstream, a heat transfer process we termed as generation–transport–recombination, which is in opposite direction of the electronic-convective heat carried by the majority carriers. Here, we present a full semiconductor physics treatment of this carrier-lattice heat transport mechanism and the contribution of the minority carriers on the evolution of the melt–solid interface, which can be applied to various high-temperature electronic devices.