Theory of Quasi-Statically Screened Electron-Polar Optical Phonon Scattering

Abstract

The scattering of electrons with polar optical phonons (POP) is an important mechanism that limits electronic transport and determines electron mobility in polar materials. This is typically a stronger mechanism compared to non-polar acoustic and optical phonon scattering, and of similar strength to the Coulomb ionized impurity scattering. At high densities, on the other hand, the cloud of charge carriers screens the dipoles that are responsible for POP scattering, and weakens the electron-POP scattering strength. However, in contrast to ionized impurity scattering, for which the well-known Brooks-Herring equation provides the scattering rates with the effect of screening included, for scattering with POP there is no such closed-form mathematical expression. In this work, we derive such an expression based on Fermi's Golden Rule, which would prove particularly useful in understanding electronic transport in complex crystal and complex band structure materials, in which electron-POP scattering could dominate electronic transport.