Calculation of electron and hole impact ionization coefficients in SiGe alloys

Silicon–germanium alloys offer a system where the ratio of the electron impact ionization coefficient (α) and hole impact ionization coefficient (β) varies from a value larger than unity (in high silicon content alloys), to a value smaller than unity (in high germanium content alloys). We report results for α and β for this alloy system. The electron results are based on a multivalley nonparabolic band structure. The hole results are based on a six-band k⋅p model for low energies coupled to an eight-band model for high energies. We find that for the alloy Si0.4Ge0.6, α∼β. Alloy scattering is found to play an important role in determining the impact ionization coefficient. For compositions around Si0.5Ge0.5, the strong alloy scattering is found to suppress the impact ionization coefficient.