Magnetoconductivity of Hot Electrons

Abstract

A theoretical analysis of galvanomagnetic phenomena in an intense electric field is given. The Boltzmann transport equation is solved for the case of acoustic-phonon and impurity scattering and the magnetoconductivity tensor is calculated. The dependence of the Hall and conductivity mobilities on electric and magnetic fields is determined both for spherical constant-energy surfaces and a band structure of the many-valley type. Expressions are derived for both the Hall and conductivity mobilities in the limit of small magnetic fields, where one considers quadratic variations of mobility in the magnetic fields, as well as the case of large magnetic fields. Negative magnetoresistance obtains for the case of spherical constant-energy surfaces and predominant acoustic-phonon scattering, whereas the sign of the mobility variation is shown to depend sensitively on the many-valley band structure and intervalley transition processes.