Anomalous Mobility Effects in Some Semiconductors and Insulators

Abstract

The Hall mobility in semiconductors and insulators can be greatly affected by inhomogeneous impurity distributions. This is due to the formation of large space-charge regions surrounding local inhomogeneities. The scattering cross section of Coulombic centers can be increased by over an order of magnitude when inhomogeneously distributed. The mobility resulting from scattering from inhomogeneities varies roughly as T−½ and decreases with decreasing carrier concentration. Assuming that inhomogeneities can occur frequently, various anomalous Hall mobility effects can be explained, such as mobility ``killers'' in GaAs, InAs, and InP; giant scattering cross sections in GaAs, InP, CdS, and CdSe; abnormally low mobilities in compensated InAs; and low mobilities in ZnO containing precipitates.