Electrical Conductivity of Hot Electrons in Narrow‐Gap Semiconductors in the Extreme Quantum Limit at Low Temperatures

Abstract

The conductivity of hot electrons in narrow-gap alloy semiconductors at low temperatures is calculated in the extreme quantum limit assuming a displaced Maxwellian distribution. The model includes the non-equipartition of phonons and the Landau-level broadening due to electron impurity interactions. It is assumed that the energy relaxation of electrons is governed by the inelastic acoustic phonon scattering via deformation potential and the mobility is limited by the acoustic phonon, ionized impurity, and alloy disorder scattering. The effect of the modified free carrier screening due to magnetic quantization is considered. The magnetic and electric field dependences of the conductivity have also been investigated.