Quantum kinetic equation for electronic transport in nondegenerate semiconductors

Abstract

We give a concise first-principles derivation of a quantum kinetic equation valid for a nondegenerate semiconductor. The general equations for the full correlation function are reduced to a non-Markovian quantum kinetic equation governing the Wigner distribution function. For the case of completed collisions we transform the kinetic equation to a form directly applicable to Monte Carlo methodology. The interacting spectral densities, which are a central feature of our theory, allow a systematic treatment of effects like collisional broadening and the intracollisional field effect. Results for a simple model semiconductor show that collision broadening is responsible for a significant increase of carriers in both the low- and high-energy regions of the hot-electron distribution function.