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General features of field emission from semiconductors
Author(s) -
Baskin L. M.,
Lvov O. I.,
Fursey G. N.
Publication year - 1971
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.2220470105
Subject(s) - semiconductor , saturation (graph theory) , saturation current , condensed matter physics , limiting , current (fluid) , materials science , voltage , physics , optoelectronics , mathematics , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , mechanical engineering , combinatorics , engineering
A theory of field emission from p‐ and n‐type semiconductors is developed without use of the zero current approximation. It is demonstrated that in p‐type semiconductors, near the crystal boundary, a weakly conducting region is formed, depleted of mobile carriers which exerts a limiting influence on the current and results in a saturation region appearing in the current‐voltage curve. The saturation current value depends, essentially, on the generation rate of mobile carriers. In n‐type semiconductors this kind of region is not formed, and the phenomenon of saturation arises due to the limited generation rate throughout the whole depth of the sample.