Heating of a two-dimensional electron gas by the electric field of a surface acoustic wave

I. L. Drichko, A. M. D'yakonov, V. D. Kagan, A. M. Kreshchuk, T. A. Polyanskaya, I. G. Savel'ev, I. Yu. Smirnov, A. V. Suslov

Published 1998-02-21, updated 1998-03-04Version 2

The heating of a two-dimensional electron gas by an rf electric field generated by a surface acoustic wave, which can be described by an electron temperature $T_e$, has been investigated. It is shown that the energy balance of the electron gas is determined by electron scattering by the piezoelectric potential of the acoustic phonons with $T_e$ determined from measurements at frequencies $f$= 30 and 150 MHz. The experimental curves of the energy loss $Q$ versus $T_e$ at different SAW frequencies depend on the value of $\omega \bar{\tau}_{\epsilon}$, compared to 1, where $ \bar {\tau}_{\epsilon}$ is the relaxation time of the average electron energy. Theoretical calculations of the heating of a two-dimensional electron gas by the electric field of the surface acoustic wave are presented for the case of thermal electrons ($\Delta T \ll T$). The calculations show that for the same energy losses $Q$ the degree of heating of the two-dimensional electrons (i.e., the ratio $T_e/T$) for $\omega \bar{\tau}_{\epsilon}>1$ ($f$= 150 MHz) is less than for $\omega \bar{\tau}_{\epsilon}<1$ ($f$=30 MHz). Experimental results confirming this calculation are presented.