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Unified Theory of Thermionic and Field Emission from Semiconductors
Author(s) -
Christov S. G.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.19670210114
Subject(s) - thermionic emission , field electron emission , electron , physics , semiconductor , effective mass (spring–mass system) , valence band , current density , atomic physics , condensed matter physics , computational physics , quantum mechanics
The recently developed general theory of electron emission from metals is extended to semiconductors assuming an arbitrary position of the Fermi level at the surface, and a parabolic energy‐momentum relation with an electron effective mass differing from the free electron mass. The expressions obtained for the emission current density from the conduction band are valid for all emission condition between the limits of thermionic and field emission. The formulae for the current originating from the valence band apply to wider emission conditions than those proposed in earlier work.