Abstract

In electronic and photonic devices the equilibrium between the input power and the energy loss rate is reached at electron average energies larger than the crystal lattice one. The associated non- equilibrium, or so-called hot-electron distribution of high-energy carriers may deviate significantly from Fermi-Dirac or Maxwell-Boltzmann statistical functions. However, when the electron-electron (e-e) interaction dominates over other scattering processes, a thermalized electronic distribution, characterized by an effective temperature (T_e) larger than the lattice one (T_L) is established. This case is quite common in most devices, where high enough electron densities larger than 10⁹ cm⁻² are present and the e-e scattering rates fall in the sub-picosecond regime, thereby being faster than e- phonon or e-defect interactions.

© 2009 IEEE