Electron transport properties of bulk mercury-cadmium-telluride at 77 K

A Monte Carlo simulation of electron transport in mercury-cadmium-telluride is performed in order to extract the most important material kinetic parameters such as electron drift velocity, mean energy. effective mass, differential mobility, diffusion coefficient, impact ionization rate, velocity and energy relaxation rates. Most of these quantities are necessary for the developments of macroscopic numerical models. Moreover, for the calculated quantities, analytical interpolation formula are given in order to achieve easy implementation in numerical codes. The main results demonstrate that hot-electron transport and impact ionization processes occur for relatively weak electric fields, that is around 100 V/cm. The high mobility of mercury-cadmium-telluride, which makes it a good material for fast applications, is verified. Finally, a comparison between the Monte Carlo calculations, hydrodynamic simulations and experimental data is made for both stationary and transient regimes, which validates the results. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.