Temperature Dependent Phonon Lifetimes and Decay Pathways in Hexagonal Gallium Nitride

The decay rate of phonons is known to affect gallium nitride (GaN) based device performance. Hence understanding the dynamical behavior of the phonons in GaN is integral to improvement of these promising devices. Using the energy-time uncertainty relation, this work examines the temperature dependency of the phonon lifetimes in GaN. By examining this temperature dependency, both decay mechanisms and energy pathways are deduced through use of previously developed scattering models used in concert with a novel graphical approach which allows mapping of the phonon decomposition.