Electrons 'Proceed with Caution' in Semiconducting Si-III (IMAGE)

Carnegie Institution for Science

Electrons 'Proceed with Caution' in Semiconducting Si-III

Caption

Is Si-III a metal with freely travelling electrons, or a semiconductor with a discrete energy gap that can 'stop' the flow? It turns out the latter is true, but the band gap of Si-III is so small that electrons can 'proceed with caution' through the structure.

Credit

Illustration is courtesy of Tim Strobel.

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