Depletion-limited Effective Hall mobility in Micrometer-Scale High-Purity Germanium Crystals

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Main Authors: Budhathoki, Narayan, Mei, Dongming, Bhattarai, Sanjay, Chhetri, Sunil, Dong, Kunming, Panamaldeniya, Shasika, Prem, Athul, Warren, Austin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Budhathoki, Narayan
Mei, Dongming
Bhattarai, Sanjay
Chhetri, Sunil
Dong, Kunming
Panamaldeniya, Shasika
Prem, Athul
Warren, Austin
author_facet Budhathoki, Narayan
Mei, Dongming
Bhattarai, Sanjay
Chhetri, Sunil
Dong, Kunming
Panamaldeniya, Shasika
Prem, Athul
Warren, Austin
contents Electrostatic effects can strongly constrain charge transport in thinned high-purity germanium (HPGe), with direct implications for radiation detectors and Ge-based electronic and quantum devices. We report a systematic experimental characterization of the thickness-dependent effective Hall mobility in bulk-grown, detector-grade HPGe at room temperature using Hall-effect measurements on n- and p-type samples sequentially thinned from 2.7~mm to 7~\textmu m. The intrinsic bulk carrier mobility remains thickness independent in this regime; the observed reduction in Hall-extracted mobility arises from electrostatic surface depletion that reduces the electrically active conducting thickness. The thickness-dependent data are accurately parameterized by an empirical extended-exponential relation, $μ(t)=μ_{0}[1-\exp(-(t/τ)^β)]$, where $τ$ is a characteristic electrostatic length scale. Comparison with boundary-scattering and depletion-based models shows that Fuchs--Sondheimer scattering is negligible, while electrostatic depletion dominates the transport behavior. The hierarchy $λ_{D}<τ\lesssim W_{0}$ directly links the apparent mobility reduction to long-range screening and near-surface electric fields. These results yield a simple design guideline: maintaining thicknesses $t\gtrsim 3τ$ preserves near-bulk transport, whereas thinner structures operate in a depletion-controlled regime with strongly reduced effective conductivity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_20842
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Depletion-limited Effective Hall mobility in Micrometer-Scale High-Purity Germanium Crystals
Budhathoki, Narayan
Mei, Dongming
Bhattarai, Sanjay
Chhetri, Sunil
Dong, Kunming
Panamaldeniya, Shasika
Prem, Athul
Warren, Austin
Applied Physics
Electrostatic effects can strongly constrain charge transport in thinned high-purity germanium (HPGe), with direct implications for radiation detectors and Ge-based electronic and quantum devices. We report a systematic experimental characterization of the thickness-dependent effective Hall mobility in bulk-grown, detector-grade HPGe at room temperature using Hall-effect measurements on n- and p-type samples sequentially thinned from 2.7~mm to 7~\textmu m. The intrinsic bulk carrier mobility remains thickness independent in this regime; the observed reduction in Hall-extracted mobility arises from electrostatic surface depletion that reduces the electrically active conducting thickness. The thickness-dependent data are accurately parameterized by an empirical extended-exponential relation, $μ(t)=μ_{0}[1-\exp(-(t/τ)^β)]$, where $τ$ is a characteristic electrostatic length scale. Comparison with boundary-scattering and depletion-based models shows that Fuchs--Sondheimer scattering is negligible, while electrostatic depletion dominates the transport behavior. The hierarchy $λ_{D}<τ\lesssim W_{0}$ directly links the apparent mobility reduction to long-range screening and near-surface electric fields. These results yield a simple design guideline: maintaining thicknesses $t\gtrsim 3τ$ preserves near-bulk transport, whereas thinner structures operate in a depletion-controlled regime with strongly reduced effective conductivity.
title Depletion-limited Effective Hall mobility in Micrometer-Scale High-Purity Germanium Crystals
topic Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20842