3. Materials

THIS chapter focuses on the properties of the semiconductor materials relevant for Nitride-based devices: GaN, InN, and AlN, and their ternary alloys. The chapter starts with a brief introduction of the MC technique used to compute macroscopic parameters. Important material as well as the electron transport properties from other studies are summarized and compared. A short discussion of p-type conductivity is provided. The order in which the materials are presented corresponds to their importance from a device modeling point of view. GaN is discussed first as nearly all of the current HEMT designs rely on it as a channel material. Technology issues have hampered structures with an InN channel, however, its recently revised band structure suggests some excellent carrier transport properties. At last, there is AlN which due to its very large band gap and lack of experimental as well as simulation reports is only briefly discussed.