Effect of High Pressure on Some Hot Electron Phenomena in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:math>-Type Germanium

Abstract

The pressure dependence of the current density vs electric field characteristic for $n$-type germanium at 297\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K has been measured to a maximum pressure of 30 000 kg/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, and to a maximum field of 10 000 v/cm. It is concluded that the electrons are "heated" by the field sufficiently to cause the conduction band valleys along the $〈100〉$ directions in reduced momentum space to be appreciably populated with electrons at atmospheric pressure. The pressure dependence of the angle $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ between current and field at 77\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K has been measured to a maximum field of 3000 v/cm and a maximum pressure of 5000 kg/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ is independent of pressure except for a small increase for applied fields of \ensuremath{\sim}3000 v/cm. Suggested interpretations for the data are given.