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A comprehensive survey is given of the thermoballistic approach to chargecarrier transport in semiconductors. This semiclassical approach bridges thegap between the drift-diffusion and ballistic ("thermionic") models of carriertransport, whose validity is limited to the range of very small and very largevalues, respectively, of the carrier mean free path. The physical conceptunderlying the thermoballistic approach, while incorporating basic features ofthe drift-diffusion and ballistic descriptions, constitutes a novel, unifyingscheme. It is based on the introduction of "ballistic configurations" definedby a random partitioning of the length of a semiconducting sample intoballistic transport intervals, which are linked by points of localthermodynamic equilibrium at which carriers are emitted or absorbed. Byaveraging the carrier currents in the ballistic intervals over all ballisticconfigurations, a position-dependent thermoballistic current is derived forarbitrary magnitude of the carrier mean free path. This current is the keyelement of the thermoballistic concept and forms the point of departure of thecalculation of various transport quantities. The present article starts outwith an account of the standard drift-diffusion and ballistic transport models,and of a prototype model which paves the way for the fully developed form ofthat concept. In the main body of the article, a coherent exposition of thethermoballistic approach is given within a general formulation that takes intoaccount arbitrarily shaped, spin-split potential energy profiles and spinrelaxation during the carrier motion across ballistic intervals. Thecalculational procedures devised for implementing the thermoballistic conceptare described. Specific examples relevant to present-day semiconductor andspintronics research are considered.

The thermoballistic approach to charge carrier transport in semiconductors