Free Carrier Scattering in Metallic n-GaAs in the Presence of Static Lattice Distortions Due to a Partial Chemical Order of Impurities

Simple electric transport versus T = 20-400 K in metallic n-GaAs annealed single crystals with Te impurity concentration ∿(0.4-1.7) × $10^{19} cm^{-3}$, which is above the equilibrium doping limit, is reported and compared with modern theory of electron mobility in degenerated n-GaAs by Szmyd, Hanna, Majerfeld. An overcome of the equilibrium doping limit in annealed n-GaAs is manifested by a lowered electrical activation of Te donors and by an onset of ≈ 0.1-1 μm regions of local strain in the crystal lattice known from high resolution X-ray studies. These preliminary results of transport show that the electron mobility μ(T) measured for n-GaAs with local strains is not consistent with predictions of Szmyd et al. model for any degree of compensation assumed. This surprising result indicates that electric transport in materials above the equilibrium doping limit is not well understood assuming the scattering by ionized impurities. The nature of defects responsible for an observed strong reduction of free carrier concentration (here ≈ 80%) in annealed heavily doped n-GaAs seems not to be related with electrical compensation. We point here at the possible role of effects of free carrier scattering due to static lattice distortions (local strains) related to a chemical aggregation of impurity atoms. We also notice that transport in metallic n-GaAs with local strains shows features similar to a weak localization $σ_{xx}$ ∝ log T.