Full-band Monte Carlo analysis of strain effects on carrier transport in GaN

Abstract The effects of strain on the carrier transport in gallium nitride (GaN) are investigated using a full-band Monte Carlo method combined with an empirical tight-binding method. The impacts on the carrier mobility, carrier drift velocity, and breakdown characteristics are discussed. Compressive uniaxial or tensile biaxial strain is beneficial for achieving higher hole mobility in vertical GaN devices due to the light-hole band being lifted above the heavy-hole band. Analysis of the breakdown phenomena indicates that strain does not degrade the breakdown characteristics in terms of its effect on the band structure.