Energy Relaxation Rates in AlInN/AlN/GaN Heterostructures

The two-dimensional (2D) electron energy relaxation in Al0.83In0.17N/AlN/GaN heterostructures has been investigated experimentally. Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) effect measurements were employed in the investigations. The electron temperature (T (e)) of hot electrons was obtained from the lattice temperature (T (L)) and the applied electric field dependencies of the amplitude of SdH oscillations. The experimental results for the electron temperature dependence of power loss are also compared with current theoretical models for power loss in 2D semiconductors. The power loss from the electrons was found to be proportional to (T (e) (3) - T (L) (3) ) for electron temperatures in the range 1.8 K < T (e) < 14 K, indicating that the energy relaxation of electrons is due to acoustic phonon emission via unscreened piezoelectric interaction. The effective mass and quantum lifetime of the 2D electrons have been determined from the temperature and magnetic field dependencies of the amplitude of SdH oscillations, respectively. The values obtained for quantum lifetime suggest that remote ionized impurity scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism in Al0.83In0.17N/AlN/GaN heterostructures.