Electron mobility

In physics, electron mobility (or simply, mobility), is a quantity relating the drift velocity of electrons to the applied electric field across a material, according to the formula: $v_{d}=\mu E$, where $\mu$ is the mobility.

The semiconductors, mobility can also apply to holes as well as electrons.

Conceptual overview

In a solid, electrons (and in the case of semiconductors, holes) will move around randomly in the absence of an applied electric field. Therefore, if one averages the movement over time there will be no overall motion of charge carriers in any particular direction. However on applying an electric field, electrons will be accelerated in an opposite direction to the electric field. The summation of the acclerations of electrons due to electric field and deceleration of electrons due to collisions and lattice scattering events (phonons, crystal defects, impurities, etc.) result in the electrons having an average drift velocity. This net electron motion is orders of magnitude less than the normal random motion, else the mobility equation is not valid. Different types of charge carriers will have different drift velocities for the same electric field. In a gas there is analagous behaviour with ions and free electrons.

In a vacuum, electrons will accelerate non-stop in an electric field according to Newton's second law of motion. This is known as "ballistic transport", therefore electron mobility is undefined for electronic movement in a vacuum.

In a solid, if the electrons must move only a very short distance (distance comparable with the brownian motion), quasi-ballistic transport is possible.

In SI units, mobility is normally measured in m²/(V·s). Since mobility is usually a strong function of material impurities and temperature, and determined empirically, mobility values are typically presented in table or chart form. Mobility is also different for electrons and holes in a semiconductor.

An approximation of the mobility function can be written as a combination of influences from lattice vibrations (phonons) and from impurities by the Matthiessen's Rule:

$\mu ={\frac {1}{{\frac {1}{\mu _{\rm {lattice}}}}+{\frac {1}{\mu _{\rm {impurities}}}}}}$.

(Note: Matthiessen's rule probably originated from Ludwig Matthiessen (1830-1906), who studied electrical conduction in metals. In his days, people might not even know the existence of semiconductors. Ludwig Matthiessen pointed out when the temperature decreases, the metal resistance decreases and then becomes constant with further decrease in temperature. Ludwig Matthiessen lived in the days before superconductivity was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in about 1911.)

Mobility in gas phase

Mobility is defined for any species in the gas phase, encountered mostly in plasma physics and is defined as :

$\mu ={\frac {q}{m\nu _{m}}}$ where,

q - charge of the species,

$\nu _{m}$ - momentum transfer collision frequency,

m - mass,

Mobility is related to the species' diffusion coefficient D through an exact (thermodynamically required) equation known as the Einstein relation:

$\mu ={\frac {q}{kT}}D$

where k the Boltzmann constant, T the gas temperature, and D is a measured quantity, that can be estimated. If one defines the mean free path in terms of momentum transfer, then one gets:

$D={\frac {\pi }{8}}\lambda ^{2}\nu _{m}$

But both the "momentum transfer mean free path" and the momentum transfer collision frequency are difficult to calculate. Many other mean free paths can be defined. In the gas phase, λ is often defined as the diffusional mean free path, by assuming a simple approximate relation is exact:

$D={\frac {1}{2}}\lambda \vee$

where v is the root mean square speed of the gas molecules:

$v={\sqrt {{3kT} \over {m}}}$

where m is the mass of the diffusing species. This approximate equation becomes exact when used to define the diffusional mean free path.

Mobility at the silicon dioxide / silicon interface of MOSFET transistors

For n-channel and p-channel MOSFETs, the electron mobility at the silicon dioxide / silicon interface has a very strong effect on the speed of the device. In 1997, Professor Mark Lundstrom of Purdue University pointed out for nanotransistors, quasi-ballistic transport is possible and maximum charge carrier speed is controlled by mobility (instead of by velocity saturation according to conventional theory). Increasing the speed of MOSFETs can have a profound benefit to digital electronics, thus all major digital semiconductor manufaturers have been exploring methods to increase mobility at the silicon dioxide / silicon interface of MOS transistors. One important approach is know as strain engineering.

Usually, three scattering mechanisms are present within semiconductors:

1. Coulombic scattering at a gate voltage slightly above the threshold voltage.
2. Phonon scattering at a higher gate voltage.
3. Surface roughness scattering a a higher gate voltage.

Recently, scientists have been studying the possibility of "remote Coulombic scattering", which is also known as "remote charge scattering". Remote charge scattering can come from two sources:

1. Remote charge scattering due to ionized impurities in the polysilicon gate.
2. Remote charge scattering due to trapped charge in the high-k dielectric.

In 2005, W.S. Lau pointed out that "remote Coulombic scattering" is only important in the subthreshold region and in the region slightly above threshold..

Examples

Typical electron mobility for GaAs at room temperature (300 K) is 0.92 m²/(V·s) or 9200 cm²/(V·s).

External links

• semiconductor glossary entry for electron mobility
• Bart Van Zeghbroeck's Online Book, Principles of Semiconductor Devices