Verification of hot hole scattering rates in silicon by quantum-yield experiment

High-energy hole scattering rates for a full-band Monte Carlo simulation in Si are verified using a quantum-yield experiment. We compare two models that yield the correct drift velocity and ionization coefficient but quite different energy distributions. It is demonstrated that the quantum-yield experiment provides a means for monitoring hole scattering rates in Si; the model based on the ab initio impact ionization rate shows good agreement with the experiments, while the random-k approximation proposed by Kane overestimates the ionization rate of holes near the threshold energy.