Re: Any hole-flow in copper?

[Chuck Britton <britton@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

> Somebody asked me about valence-band current in metals.  I'm not aware of
> a significant hole-flow in copper, aluminum, etc.  Am I wrong?  Does
> anyone here know about the percentages of holes and electrons in the
> carriers in commonly-used metals?
>
> On Sat, 9 Jan 1999, William Beaty wrote:
>
> > I think Bismuth has major hole flow.  I
> > might be wrong, and perhaps there is a small percentage of holes even in
> > copper, etc.  This would be a good question for the PHYS-L discussion
> > list.
> >
> > Right.  Hole current a flow of electrons in the lower "orbit" of the
> > atoms.  But it's also a flow of "vacancies."  What I don't know is, what's
> > the mass of each hole?  Does it have the same mass as an electron, or does
> > it act as if it has negative mass?  If holes behave as if they have real
> > mass, then I would say that they qualify as real positive particles, just
> > like positrons.  If they have anti-mass, then everyone should probably
> > assume that holes are "really" electrons which move to fill a vacancy, and
> > hence leave a new vacancy behind them.


I THINK that Cadmium, Zinc, Beryllium and Iron (under some conditions) have
predominately hole flow as well.

SolidState reseearchers define an 'effective' mass for electrons and holes
that allows them to Newtonian formalism. I seem to remember that BOTH
electrons and holes have an effective mass that is considerably greater
than the 'cathode ray' mass.

It is common for researchers to measure the 'orbital characteristics' of a
bound electron-hole pair.

No, the holes DON'T have 'negative mass'.

The Hall Effect is one of the most straight-forward measures of the
predominate charge carriers sign. A positive Hall Coefficient doesn't
guarantee 100% positive charge carriers, just that they outnumber the
negatives.

It's no accident that stressed          Chuck Britton
spelled backwards is desserts.          britton@odie.ncssm.edu