The area of high field transport in semiconductors has been of interest since the early studies of dielectric breakdown in various materials. It really emerged as a sub-discipline of semiconductor physics in the early 1960's, following the discovery of substantial deviations from Ohm's law at high electric fields. Since that time, it has become a major area of importance in solid state electronics as semiconductor devices have operated at higher frequencies and higher powers. It has become apparent since the Modena Conference on Hot Electrons in 1973, that the area of hot electrons has ex­ tended weIl beyond the concept of semi-classical electrons (or holes) in homogeneous semiconductor materials. This was exemplified by the broad range of papers presented at the International Conference on Hot Electrons in Semiconductors, held in Denton, Texas, in 1977. Hot electron physics has progressed from a limited phenomeno­ logical science to a full-fledged experimental and precision theo­ retical science. The conceptual base and subsequent applications have been widened and underpinned by the development of ab initio nonlinear quantum transport theory which complements and identifies the limitations of the traditional semi-classical Boltzmann-Bloch picture. Such diverse areas as large polarons, pico-second laser excitation, quantum magneto-transport, sub-three dimensional systems, and of course device dynamics all have been shown to be strongly interactive with more classical hot electron pictures.

Inhalt

The Lectures.- 1. Phenomenological Physics of Hot Carriers in Semiconductors.- The Carrier Temperature Model.- Drift, Diffusion, and Generation-Recombination of Hot Electrons.- The Influence of Classical Magnetic Fields on Hot Electrons.- Hot Electrons in Semiconductor Devices and Layered Structures.- Appendices,.- 2. Electronic Structure of Semiconductors.- The Single Particle Description: Bonds and Bands.- Many-Body Effects on the Electronic Structure of Semiconductors.- 3 The Electron-Phonon Interaction in Semiconductors.- The Adiabatic Approximation.- The Deformation Potential Interaction.- Non-polar Optical Phonon Scattering.- Polar-Optical Interaction.- Piezoelectric Interaction.- A Microscopic Approach.- Applications.- The Electron-Phonon Interaction in Nonperfect Semiconductors.- 4. Semi-Classical Boltzmann Transport Theory in Semiconductors.- Displaced Maxwellian.- Numerical Techniques.- 5. Quantum Transport Theory.- Concepts.- Structure of High Field Quantum Kinetic Theory.- Many-Body Formulation and the Screening Problem.- 6. Carrier-Carrier Interactions and Screening.- The Intercarrier Interaction.- The Critical Concentrations.- Distribution Functions.- 7. Multiphonon Scattering.- Electron-multiphonon Processes.- Electron-Two phonon Processes.- Results.- Summary.- 8. Experimental Studies of Nonlinear Transport in Semiconductors.- Transport Parameters.- Electron Temperature.- Hot Electron Distribution Functions.- Conclusions.- 8a. Time-of-Flight Techniques..- Description of ToF Techniques.- Types of Information Available from ToF Techniques.- Alternative Techniques.- Summary of ToF Most Significant Applications.- 9. Hot-Electron Transport in Quantizing Magnetic Fields.- The Shubnikov-de Haas Effect.- The Magnetophonon Effect.- Magneto-Impurity Resonance.- 10. Hot Electron Distribution Function in Quantizing Magnetic Fields.- Quantitative Estimates of Electron Temperature.- Study of the Electron Distribution Function in Crossed Fields.- Conclusions.- 11. Hot Electron Effects in Semiconductor Devices.- Transient Hot Electron Effects in Semiconductor Devices.- Conclusions.- 12. Optical Excitation of Hot Carriers.- Optical Excitation of Electron-Hole Pairs.- Carrier Heating by Optical Injection.- Band Filling by Optical Excitation.- Oscillatory Photoconductivity and Photoluminescence.- Conclusions.- 13. Theoretical Concepts of Photoexcited Hot Carriers.- The Barker-Hearn Model.- Solution of the Integral Equation.- Photoexcited Holes in Cu-Doped Germanium.- Effects of Optical Phonons, 360; Further Physical Effects.- 14. The Physics of Nonlinear Absorption and Ultrafast Carrier Relaxation in Semiconductors.- Review of the Germanium Band Structure.- Physical Processes.- Initial Models.- Conclusion.- 15. Nonequilibrium Phonon Processes.- Phonon Instabilities.- Phonon Lifetimes.- Steady-State Effects of Nonthermal Phonons.- Some Further Aspects of PH-Disturbances in Solids.- 16. Noise and Diffusion of Hot Carriers.- Fluctuations and Noise: General Considerations.- Noise Temperatures of Hot Carriers.- Diffusion of Hot Carriers.- Experimental Techniques.- Theoretical Determinations.- Noise Sources.- Noise of Hot Carriers in Devices.- Some Quantum Effects.- Conclusion.- The Seminars.- 1. High-Field Transport of Holes in Elemental Semiconductors.- Theoretical Model.- Results and Discussion.- Conclusions.- 2. Nonlinear Transport in Quasi-One-Dimensional Conductors.- Nonlinear Transport in Organic Charge Transfer Salts: TTF-TCNQ and Related Compounds.- Non-Ohmic Effects in KCP.- Non-Ohmic Conductivity of Quasi-ID Trichalcogenides: NbSe3.- Nonlinear Transport in Highly Conducting Polymers.- Summary.- 3. Optical Absorption of Solids Under Laser Irradiation.- Band Structure Effects.- Optical Properties.- Conclusions.- 4. High Intensity Picosecond Photoexcitation of Semiconductors.- Dynamic Saturation of the Optical Absorption.- High Photogenerated-Carrier Densities.- Hot Phonons,.- The Relaxation-Diffusion-Recombination Model.- Summary.- 5. Hot Electron Contributions in Two and Three Terminal Semiconductor Devices.- Two-Terminal Devices.- Three-Terminal Devices.- 6. Modeling of Carrier Transport in the Finite Collision Duration Regime: Effects in Submicron Semiconductor Devices.- The Intracollisional Field Effect.- The Retarded Equations.- Discussion.- 7. On the Physics of Sub-Micron Semiconductor Devices..- Physical Scales and Phenomena.- On Medium Small Devices.- Very Small Scale Devices.- Synergetic Effects and New Device Concepts.- Formal Theory of Coupled Device Arrays.- List of Participants.