ISSN:
1089-7550
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
An improved, more physically accurate algorithm is presented for modeling collision broadening in semiclassical Monte Carlo. More specifically, the method of connecting a sequence of collision broadened scattering events is addressed. Sequences of collision broadened scattering events are analyzed via basic theory and illustrated via first-principles simulations using the quantum transport simulator Schrödinger Equation Monte Carlo in which, in contrast to semiclassical Monte Carlo, real scattering and collision broadening are inseparable processes. It is demonstrated that the requirement for energy conservation in the coupled carrier-phonon system prohibits the accumulation of the uncertainty in the carrier energy associated with collision broadening through a sequence of scattering events, accumulation that is possible with the conventional treatment of collision broadening in semiclassical Monte Carlo. Based on this analysis, basic changes to the treatment of collision broadening in semiclassical Monte Carlo are suggested. The potential significance of these changes is then assessed via simplified semiclassical Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the exaggeration of the high-energy tail of the carrier distribution possible with the conventional treatment of collision broadening in semiclassical Monte Carlo is demonstrated to be an artifact of the above described nonphysical accumulation of the collision broadening contributions, not of the form of the collision broadening used (Lorentzian, etc.) as often assumed; with this more physically accurate new algorithm, well-behaved high-energy tails of the carrier distribution are obtained even with full Lorentzian broadening. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.371861
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