Electric fields drift

Contrary to silicon, very little work has been done in germanium regarding quantitative hydrogen diffusion or electric field drift studies. Such experiments may be complicated by the fact that ultra-pure germanium becomes intrinsic already at temperatures near 200 K. It would be worthwhile to explore the possibility of using lightly doped germanium for such studies in order to explore Fermi level dependent effects. 

To keep the reaction going and the electronation current constant, a steady supply of electron-acceptor ions must be maintained by transport from the electrolyte bulk. This transport may be by diffusion (random walk) or migration under an electric field (drift) [cf. Eq. (4.226)]. 

When ions move under equilibrium conditions in a gas and an external electric field, the energy gained from the electric field E between collisions is lost to the gas upon collision so that the ions move with a constant drift speed v = KE. The mobility K of ions of charge e in a gas of density N is given in tenns of the collision integral by the Chapman-Enskog fomuila [2]... 

The transport of particles in the plasma is diffusive or convective for the neutrals, whereas the charge carriers move under the influence of the external and internal electric and magnetic fields. The drift velocityv of the charged particles is proportional to the electric field E ... 

The application of a small external electric field A to a semiconductor results in a net average velocity component of the carriers (electrons or holes) called the drift velocity, v. The coefficient of proportionality between E and is known as the carrier mobility p. At higher fields, where the drift velocity becomes comparable to the thennal... 

In a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer, ions formed in an ion source are extracted and accelerated to a high velocity by an electric field in an analyzer consisting of a long, straight drift tube. The ions pass along the tube until they reach a detector. 

After acceleration through an electric field, ions pass (drift) along a straight length of analyzer under vacuum and reach a detector after a time that depends on the square root of their m/z values. The mass spectrum is a record of the abundances of ions and the times (converted to m/z) they have taken to traverse the analyzer. TOP mass spectrometry is valuable for its fast response time, especially for substances of high mass that have been ionized or selected in pulses. 

This deleterious effect can be obviated by introducing additional components of magnetic field, causing the field lines to circumscribe the toms without ever closing on themselves. The net magnetic field is then composed of a major, or toroidal, field component produced by the current cods, plus a smaller poloidal component which gives the desired twist to the lines. Particle drifts weaken or nullify the harmful electrical field and the plasma no longer tends to move to the wads. 

Assuming that the current in the gas is carried mostly by electrons, the induced electric field uB causes transverse electron motion (electron drift), which, being itself orthogonal to the magnetic field, induces an axial electric field, known as the Hall field, and an axial body force, F, given by... 

The elections move with a drift velocity v relative to the gas. Then the electric field E felt by the electrons is... 

In plasma chromatography, molecular ions of the heavy organic material to be analy2ed are produced in an ionizer and pass by means of a shutter electrode into a drift region. The velocity of drift through an inert gas at approximately 101 kPa (1 atm) under the influence of an appHed electric field depends on the molecular weight of the sample. The various sonic species are separated and collected every few milliseconds on an electrode. The technique has been employed for studying upper atmosphere ion molecule reactions and for chemical analysis (100). 

Charge carriers in a semiconductor are always in random thermal motion with an average thermal speed, given by the equipartion relation of classical thermodynamics as m v /2 = 3KT/2. As a result of this random thermal motion, carriers diffuse from regions of higher concentration. Applying an electric field superposes a drift of carriers on this random thermal motion. Carriers are accelerated by the electric field but lose momentum to collisions with impurities or phonons, ie, quantized lattice vibrations. This results in a drift speed, which is proportional to the electric field = p E where E is the electric field in volts per cm and is the electron s mobility in units of cm /Vs. 

Ohm s law assumes that the drift speed of electrons in an electric field, is small compared to thek average speed, in a... 

MaxweU-Boltzmann distribution. At high electric fields, E > 10 kV/cm, no longer increases with electric field and approaches a limiting saturation speed, determined primarily by optical phonon emission. Eigure 3 shows the variation of drift speed with electric field for electrons and holes in various semiconductors. 

When electrons are injected as minority carriers into a -type semiconductor they may diffuse, drift, or disappear. That is, their electrical behavior is determined by diffusion in concentration gradients, drift in electric fields (potential gradients), or disappearance through recombination with majority carrier holes. Thus, the transport behavior of minority carriers can be described by a continuity equation. To derive the p—n junction equation, steady-state is assumed, so that = 0, and a neutral region outside the depletion region is assumed, so that the electric field is zero. Under these circumstances,... 

Fig. 2. Electron drift velocities as a function of electric field for A, GaAs and B, Si The gradual saturation of curve B is characteristic of all indirect semiconductors. Curve A is characteristic of direct gap semiconductors and at low electric fields this curve has a steeper slope which reflects the larger electron mobiUty. The peak in curve A is the point at which a substantial fraction of the electrons have gained sufficient energy to populate the indirect L minimum which has a much larger electron-effective mass than the F minimum. Above 30 kV/cm (not shown) the drift velocity in Si exceeds that in...

Thus when an electric field is appHed to a soHd material the mobile charge carriers are accelerated to an average drift velocity v, which, under steady-state conditions, is proportional to the field strength. The proportionality factor is defined as the mobility, = v/E. An absolute mobility defined as the velocity pet unit driving force acting on the particle, is given as ... 

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