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Note on the contact between a metal and an insulator or semi-conductor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

N. F. Mott
N. F. Mott
Affiliation:
Gonville and Caius College
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Extract

According to quantum mechanics there exists in any non-metallic crystal a band of allowed electronic energy levels which are unoccupied when the crystal is in its state of lowest energy. We call this band the conduction band; the crystal can conduct electricity if electrons are raised into the conduction level from lower levels. According to the theory of semi-conductors given by Wilson, there exist in these substances lattice imperfections at which an electron can exist in a bound stationary state below the conduction band, electrons being raised from these levels into the conduction band by the thermal agitation of the surrounding atoms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 1938 , pp. 568 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1938

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References

* Cf. Fowler, R. H., Statistical mechanics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1936)Google Scholar, § 11·62.

† Tamm, , Zeit. f. Physik, 76 (1932), 849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

* Cf. Fowler, R. H., Statistical mechanics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 1936), p. 364.Google Scholar

† Trans. Faraday Soc. 34 (1938), 500.Google Scholar

* Trans. Faraday Soc. 34 (1938), 500.Google Scholar