Phonon-limited mobility in two-dimensional semiconductors with spin-orbit coupling

The authors demonstrate that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in low-dimensional semiconductors can enhance or reduce the electron-phonon scattering rate by as much as 25%. The underlying mechanism is that the electron-phonon scattering phase space for the upper (lower) Rashba band is significantly enhanced (suppressed) by the spin-orbit interaction. While the scattering time decreases for the upper level, the mobility of the level increases due to an additional term in the electron velocity. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.