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

We present a simple model for μ(E), the field dependence of the mobility, in polar semiconductors. The resulting four-parameter expression is based on 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. The model is applied to new data for InAs and InSb, and the fit is superior to empirical models of similar complexity. We find that energy loss via pure plasmon or coupled mode scattering is important even for intrinsic InSb.