Interband Electron-Electron Scattering and Transport Phenomena in Semiconductors

The effect of interband electron-electron scattering (electron-hole scattering, light hole-heavy hole scattering, etc.) on the electrical transport phenomena is studied with a variational method obtained by a generalization of Kohler's variation principle to a multiband conductor. To this end we make the following assumptions: (1) The electronic structure is given by parabolic conduction and valence bands, separated from each other by $\Delta E\gg k_{B}T$; the valence band may be twofold degenerate; (2) The average occupation numbers of electronic eigenstates are given by Fermi-Dirac statistics; (3) The dynamical interaction between charge carriers is described by a shielded Coulomb potential.