A catchment model of high electric field conduction in high concentration narrow-gap semiconductors

We present a simple model for mu(E), the field dependence of the mobility, in polar semiconductors. The resulting four-parameter expression is based o n a streaming motion idea and a catchment model previously applied to layer rigidity in intercalated solids. A fitting parameter p, introduced in the catchment model, is shown to be related to the plasmon screening length. Th e model is applied to new data for InAs and InSb, and the fit is superior t o empirical models of similar complexity. We find that energy loss via pure plasmon or coupled mode scattering is important even for intrinsic InSb. ( C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)04614-3].