Electron transport in inversion and accumulation layers of III-V compounds

In metal/oxide/semiconductor devices, carriers may be confined to a narrow region sufficiently close to the interface that they behave as a quasi-two-dimensional system. In such a case, the carrier transport will differ fundamentally from that in the bulk owing to the reduced dimensionality of the surface carrier system. Because of the close proximity of the surface, scattering due to interface charge states and surface imperfections becomes particularly important, especially for III-V compound devices where interface control is difficult. In this paper a discussion is given of the various scattering mechanisms which are expected to be important for quantized electrons in III-V compound inversion and accumulation layers. In addition a review is given of the experimental studies relating to transport at these surfaces.