Reduction of interface phonon modes using metal-semiconductor heterostructures

Based on a simplified analysis of perfectly conducting metals, it has been suggested qualitatively that establishing metal-semiconductor interfaces at the heterojunctions of polar semiconductor quantum wells introduces a set of boundary conditions that dramatically reduces or eliminates unwanted carrier energy loss caused by interactions with interface longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon modes. In this article, it is theoretically demonstrated that comparable reductions in LO phonon scattering strengths may be achieved for metal-semiconductor structures with metal having realistic conductivities and Thomas–Fermi screening lengths.