An ensemble Monte Carlo simulation has been used to model bulk electron transport at room and higher temperatures as a function of high electric fields. Electronic states within the conduction band valleys at the Γ1, U, M, Γ3 and K are represented by non-parabolic ellipsoidal valleys centred on important symmetry points of the Brillouin zone. The simulation shows that intervalley electron transfer plays a dominant role in GaN in high electric fields leading to a strongly inverted electron distribution and to a large negative differential conductance. Our simulation results have also shown that the electron velocity in GaN is less sensitive to temperature than in other III-V semiconductors like GaAs . So GaN devices are expected to be more tolerant to self-heating and high ambient temperature device modeling. Our steady state velocity-field characteristics are in fair agreement with other recent calculations.
