TWO-PHONON SCATTERING PROCESSES IN THE ENERGY RELAXATION TIME OF HOT ELECTRONS IN InSb

Abstract

Measurements of electrical conductivity as a function of electric field were used to obtain electron‐energy relaxation times τ_ε in n‐InSb with 10¹⁴ carriers/cm³ in the temperature range from 5 to 34 K. Comparison of results with theoretical predictions demonstrated that the usual mechanisms involving single‐phonon interactions cannot adequately describe τ_ε, especially in the range between 12 and 34 K. The data are highly suggestive of a two‐phonon process involving the emission of a 0.0223‐eV transverse optical phonon and absorption of a 0.0054‐eV transverse acoustic phonon.