ELECTRON-ELECTRON SCATTERING AND TRANSPORT PHENOMENA IN NONPOLAR SEMICONDUCTORS

Journal Article · Thu Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 1961 · Physical Review (U.S.) Superseded in part by Phys. Rev. A, Phys. Rev. B: Solid State, Phys. Rev. C, and Phys. Rev. D

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.122.1760· OSTI ID:4063061

Appel, J

The effects of electron-electron scattering processes caused by Coulomb forces on the transport phenomena in nonpolar isotropic solids are treated in the framework of Kohler's variation principle. By considering the conduction electrons as a Fermi-Dirac gas of noninteracting free quasi-particles, electron- electron scattering is taken into account as a small perturbation, in the same manner as is electron-phonon scattering in nonpolar solids. A shielded Coulomb potential that depends on two parameters- the effective dielectric constant and the shielding constant- is used as the interaction potential. These two parameters, for small concentrations of electrons, may be assumed to be independent of the distance between two electrons during a scattering process. A general qualitative result is that electron-electron scattering causes the electrical conductivity to be reduced less thsn the electronic heat conductivity. The conductivities and the Wiedemann- Franz ratio are reduced by an amount determined by the energy dependence of that perturbation of the electron distribution which is induced by primary scattering sources such as electron- phonon scattering or electron-impurity scattering. Quantitative results for nondegenerate semiconductors are obtained in terms of the variational method. With electronphonon and electron-ion scattering assumed in turn as the primary scattering mechanism, the effects of electronelectron scattering on the electrical conductivity, the heat conductivity, and the Seebeck coefficient are calculated as functions of temperature. The effect of electron-electron scattering on transport phenomena in metals is considered. The applicability of the results obtained for isotropic semiconductors to an important class of anisotropic semiconductors is shown. (auth)

• Research Organization: General Atomic Div., General Dynamics Corp., San Diego
• NSA Number: NSA-15-021294
• OSTI ID: 4063061
• Journal Information: Physical Review (U.S.) Superseded in part by Phys. Rev. A, Phys. Rev. B: Solid State, Phys. Rev. C, and Phys. Rev. D, Vol. Vol: 122; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

PHYSICS
ANISOTROPY
COULOMB POTENTIAL
DIELECTRICS
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC MOMENTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
FERMI GAS
FERMIONS
HEAT TRANSFER
IMPURITIES
INTERACTIONS
METALS
NUMERICALS
PHONONS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTORS
SOLIDS
SOUND
TEMPERATURE
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
WIEDEMANN- FRANZ LAW