Hot electrons under quantization conditions: II. The Boltzmann equation

Abstract

A general analysis of the Boltzmann equation is undertaken for the non-degenerate electrons in low-dimensional system interacting with bulk acoustic phonons. We derive expressions for symmetric and antisymmetric collision operators for electrons confined by an arbitrary quantizing potential. These expressions are universal and can be applied to three-, two- or one-dimensional electron gases. As was shown in our previous paper (part I) the kinetics of the low-dimensional electron system is qualitatively different at low and high lattice temperatures due to the kinematic peculiarities of the electron - acoustic-phonon interaction. Here we present the Boltzmann equation to describe the non-equilibrium electron distribution in low-dimensional electron systems under different external conditions which are of physical interest and which will be investigated in the following paper, part III.