Surface thermoplasma waves and their interaction with flow of charged particles at a semiconductor-metal interface

Abstract

It is shown that slow surface thermoplasma waves exist at an interface of a semiconductor with an ideal metal if thermal motion of conduction electrons causes the spatial dispersion of the dielectric permeability in the semiconductor. The spectrum and the damping of these waves are obtained. The collisionless damping is due to the interaction of the surface thermoplasma waves with the conduction electrons which move along a normal to the boundary without collisions through the region of the surface wave localization. The Landau damping is exponentially small in comparison with the damping. Amplification of the surface thermoplasma wave can be realized by using a flow of charged particles injected into the semiconductor from the metal.