EFFECT OF NONPOLAR OPTICAL PHONON-SCATTERING ON FREE-CARRIER ABSORPTION IN HEAVILY-DOPED N-TYPE GERMANIUM

Abstract

The effect of nonpolar optical phonon scattering on the free-carrier absorption in n-type semiconductors such as germanium has been investigated quantum mechanically in quantizing magnetic fields. It is assumed that the energy band of electrons in semiconductors is nonparabolic and the dominant scattering mechanism for electrons in solids is that of nonpolar optical phonon scattering. When the radiation field is polarized parallel to the magnetic field, the absorption coefficient will be of complex value due to the interaction of the radiation field and the optical phonon field with electrons in semiconductors. Results show that real and imaginary parts of the absorption coefficient oscillate quite considerably with the magnetic field in the high fields for the heavily doped n-type Ge. Both real and imaginary parts of the absorption coefficient appear as positive and negative values when changing the magnetic field. In low magnetic fields, the imaginary part of the absorption coefficient disappears. However, if the density of electrons increases, the imaginary part of the absorption coefficient will increase with the magnetic field in low fields. Moreover, it is also shown that the amplitudes of oscillations for the real and imaginary parts of the absorption coefficient do not vary in a regular trend with the density of electrons.