Electrical current through extended and localized states from the quantum Boltzmann equation

Carolyn M. Van Vliet, Christiaan G. Van Weert and Alan H. Marshak

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 1985, vol. 134, issue 1, 249-264

Abstract: The fundamental equation for current flow in isothermal inhomogeneous systems, such as in electron devices, is J(r)=(σ/q)∇μ(r), where μ = ξ - qφ is the electrochemical potential or quasi-Fermi level, ξ is the chemical potential, and φ is the electrical potential. The two parts lead to drift and diffusion current. In the present paper we consider current flow involving arbitrary one electron states |ζ), where |ζ) may be an extended Bloch type state or a localized state, the total current being ponderomotive plus collisional current. Using the quantum mechanical Boltzmann equation derived previously by one of us, we show that the above thermodynamic result for J remains valid for any type of current when an exact second quantization formalism is used.

Date: 1985
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0378437185901657
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:134:y:1985:i:1:p:249-264

DOI: 10.1016/0378-4371(85)90165-7

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().