Monte Carlo Kinetic Modeling of the Combined Carrier-Phonon Nonequilibrium Dynamics in Semiconductor Heterostructure Devices

Electron-phonon interaction is a key mechanism for charge and heat transport in both bulk materials as well as in state-of-the-art electronic and optoelectronic solid-state devices. Indeed, that of an effective heat dissipation, at the diverse design levels, has always been a primary issue in device operation and performances. In various circumstances, the charge carrier subsystem happens to be coupled to a significant nonequilibrium optical phonon population. This regime may be particularly pronounced in new-generation quantum emitters based on semiconductor heterostructures and operating both in the mid- infrared as well as in the terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this chapter, we review a global kinetic approach based on a Monte Carlo simulation technique that we have recently proposed for the modeling of the combined carrier-phonon nonequilibrium dynamics in realistic unipolar multisubband device designs. Results for the case of a pro- totypical resonant-phonon terahertz emitting quantum cascade laser are shown and discussed.