Electric Fields of Defects in Solids

Abstract

Explicit consideration is given to the magnitudes of electric fields which exist in nonmetallic solids containing charged defects. Several types of defects are mentioned, and detailed treatment is given to the case of point charges in semiconductors. For this case, probability distributions of the field strengths are found by using the results of the analogous problem in weakly ionized plasmas. The dependence on impurity concentration and the effect of screening by free carriers are shown. The principal conclusion is that most nonmetallic solids are pervaded by high fields---${10}^{4}$ V/cm being a typical average.