Band Dispersion and Career Mobility

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the relationship between band dispersion and carrier mobility in metals and semi-metals, specifically addressing the electron mobility formula μ = eτ/m*. Key points include the importance of effective mass and scattering time in determining mobility, as well as the unique case of massless charge carriers in graphene. Participants also explore methods for estimating electron mobility and the challenges associated with calculating scattering times, particularly in materials like black phosphorus nanotubes using tools such as VASP and phononpy.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of band theory and dispersion relations
  • Familiarity with the electron mobility formula μ = eτ/m*
  • Knowledge of scattering mechanisms, including impurity and phonon scattering
  • Experience with computational tools like VASP and phononpy for phonon calculations
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the relationship between effective mass and band dispersion in various materials
  • Learn about estimating scattering time τ for different systems, including BN sheets and phosphorus
  • Explore the calculation of phonon spectra and electron-phonon coupling constants
  • Investigate alternative phonon calculation software suitable for nanotubes
USEFUL FOR

Researchers and engineers in materials science, particularly those focused on semiconductor physics, electronic properties of materials, and computational modeling of nanostructures.

arvind
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how the dispersion relation(i.e. E-k relation) affects carrier mobility in metals or semi-metals?
 
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arvind said:
how the dispersion relation(i.e. E-k relation) affects carrier mobility in metals or semi-metals?

I'm not sure if you have done any search on your own. You would have discovered the answer yourself.

For example, the electron mobility can be written, in the simplest form, as

\mu = e\tau/m^*

where μ is the mobility, τ is the scattering time, e is the charge, and m* is the effective mass. Now, look up the relationship between the effective mass and the band dispersion, and you have your answer.

Zz.
 
what if the charge carriers are massless as in case of graphene which is a single atom thick sheet?
 
arvind said:
what if the charge carriers are massless as in case of graphene which is a single atom thick sheet?

In general, the velocity of a wavepacket describing the motion of a particle is given as ##\partial E/\partial k##. You can now figure out what happens for a quadratic and a linear dispersion relation.
The book by Ashcroft and Mermin discusses all this in detail.
 
ZapperZ said:
I'm not sure if you have done any search on your own. You would have discovered the answer yourself.

For example, the electron mobility can be written, in the simplest form, as

\mu = e\tau/m^*

where μ is the mobility, τ is the scattering time, e is the charge, and m* is the effective mass. Now, look up the relationship between the effective mass and the band dispersion, and you have your answer.

Zz.

Is there a simple and convenient way to estimate the electron mobility ?
I can derive the m^* from band structure data ( through curve-fitting and then take a derivative with respect to k-point),but I know little information for the scattering time ;how to estimate \tau for the systems (for example, BN sheet,or phosphorus) ?
There is also another formula ,i.e.,
\upsilon_{d}=μE
it seems not cowork with those data using first princple softwares.
 
Douasing said:
Is there a simple and convenient way to estimate the electron mobility ?

Not really, it depends on the scattering mechanism, e.g. impurity scattering or scattering from phonons. The latter should be most relevant in very pure samples. To quantify it ab initio, you would have to calculate the phonon spectrum and electron phonon coupling constants.
 
DrDu said:
Not really, it depends on the scattering mechanism, e.g. impurity scattering or scattering from phonons. The latter should be most relevant in very pure samples. To quantify it ab initio, you would have to calculate the phonon spectrum and electron phonon coupling constants.
Thank you for your suggestions.
But I find some vitual frequency when use phononpy and vasp to calculate the phonon of black phosphorus nanotubes (about 32 atoms for armchair PNT with n=8,see the figure below).On the other hand,it is very time consuming when use Elk-code (about 5 days for 4 atoms,which use DFPT method).
Are there any convienient phonon softwares or programs for nanotubes ?

upload_2014-9-22_14-24-26.png
 

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