Temperature dependence of impact ionization coefficients in p-Si

An efficient full-band Monte Carlo program for high-energy carrier transport is employed to investigate hole impact ionization in p-Si for a range of electric fields up to 800 kV/cm and lattice temperatures between 77 and 450 K. An empirical expression is developed for the temperature dependence of ionization coefficients. The results are compared with those obtained from existing models. The empirical model agrees well with experiments and other numerically intensive models, providing a means to incorporate these effects into other device simulators and reliability models.