HIGH-FIELD EFFECTS
At low electric-fields, the drift velocity is linearly proportional to the applied field. We assume that the time interval between collisions,
τ
c
, is independent of the applied field. This is a reasonable assumption as long as the drift velocity is small compared with the thermal velocity of carriers, which is about 10
7
cm/s for silicon at room temperature.As the drift velocity approaches the thermal velocity, its field dependence on the electric field will begin to depart from the linear relationship given in Section 2.1. Figure 22 shows the measured drift velocities of electrons and holes in silicon as a function of the electric field. It is apparent that initially the field dependence of the drift velocity is linear, corresponding to a constant mobility. As the electric field is increased, the drift velocity increases less rapidly. At sufficiently large fields, the drift velocity approaches a saturation velocity. The experimental results can be approximated by the empirical expression