zener tunneling

veejay

in zener tunneling phenomena, are the carriers locally generated or non-locally generated?
i.e, should we assume the process as though it were generation of holes in the valence band and electrons in the conduction band?
i hope someone could shed some physics on this concept.
thanks.

Gokul43201

Actually, it's almost the other way round. Look at a tunnel-diode at small bias: The electrons from the conduction band of the n-type region tunnel across the junction, into the empty states in the valence band of the p-type region (remember, in a tunnel-diode, the Fermi energy does not lie within the band-gap).

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veejay	zener tunneling Tweet in zener tunneling phenomena, are the carriers locally generated or non-locally generated? i.e, should we assume the process as though it were generation of holes in the valence band and electrons in the conduction band? i hope someone could shed some physics on this concept. thanks.

Gokul43201 Recognitions: Gold Member Science Advisor Staff Emeritus	Actually, it's almost the other way round. Look at a tunnel-diode at small bias: The electrons from the conduction band of the n-type region tunnel across the junction, into the empty states in the valence band of the p-type region (remember, in a tunnel-diode, the Fermi energy does not lie within the band-gap).