Kinetic theory of shot noise in non-degenerate diffusive conductors

Abstract

We investigate current fluctuations in non-degenerate semiconductors, on length scales intermediate between the elastic and inelastic mean free paths. We present an exact solution of the non-linear kinetic equations in the regime of space-charge limited conduction, without resorting to the drift approximation of previous work. By including the effects of a finite voltage and carrier density in the contact region, a quantitative agreement is obtained with Monte Carlo simulations by Gonz{á}lez et al., for a model of an energy-independent elastic scattering rate. The shot-noise power $P$ is suppressed below the Poisson value $P_{Poisson}=2e\bar I$ (at mean current $\bar I$) by the Coulomb repulsion of the carriers. The exact suppression factor is close to 1/3 in a three-dimensional system, in agreement with the simulations and with the drift approximation. Including an energy dependence of the scattering rate has a small effect on the suppression factor for the case of short-range scattering by uncharged impurities or quasi-elastic scattering by acoustic phonons. Long-range scattering by charged impurities remains an open problem.