Atomistic approach to alloy scattering in $Si_{1-x}Ge_{x}$

Saumitra R Mehrotra, Abhijeet Paul, Gerhard Klimeck

Published 2011-02-23, updated 2011-03-01Version 3

SiGe alloy scattering is of significant importance with the introduction of strained layers and SiGe channels into CMOS technology. However, alloy scattering has till now been treated in an empirical fashion with a fitting parameter. We present a theoretical model within the atomistic tight-binding representation for treating alloy scattering in SiGe. This approach puts the scattering model on a solid atomistic footing with physical insights. The approach is shown to inherently capture the bulk alloy scattering potential parameters for both n-type and p-type carriers and matches experimental mobility data.