Transport of Electrons in Donor-Doped Silicon at Any Degree of Degeneracy of Electron Gas

Abstract

The general expressions, based on the Fermi distribution of the free electrons, are applied for calculation of the kinetic coefficients in donor-doped silicon at arbitrary degree of the degeneracy of electron gas under equilibrium conditions. The classical statistics lead to large errors in estimation of the transport parameters for the materials where Fermi level is located high above the conduction band edge unless the effective density of randomly moving electrons is introduced. The obtained results for the diffusion coefficient and drift mobility are discussed together with practical approximations applicable for non-degenerate electron gas and materials with arbitrary degree of degeneracy. In particular, the drift mobility of randomly moving electrons is found to depend on the degree of degeneracy and can exceed the Hall mobility considerably. When the effective density is introduced, the traditional Einstein relation between the diffusion coefficient and the drift mobility of randomly moving electrons is conserved at any level of degeneracy. The main conclusions and formulae can be applicable for holes in acceptor-doped silicon as well.