Nonlinear electroacoustic equations in semiconductors with interfaces (relation between the macroscopic and the quasi-microscopic descriptions) (Q1094939)

Based on a phenomenological, nonlinear, rotationally invariant and thermodynamically admissible theory of deformable piezoelectric semiconductors with interfaces, a completely deductive derivation of nonlinear electroacoustic equations and constitutive relations is presented. The equations apply to crystals of arbitrary symmetry. A perturbation method for nonlinear electroelastic equations cubic in the small field variables and superposed on a bias is used. Emphasis is placed on the complex physical phenomena that occur at the interface through conduction, diffusion and transfer of charges of various types intimately related to the behaviour of chemical potentials across the singular surface. Relations between the present macroscopic theory and conventional quasi-microscopic descriptions based on statistical mechanics are discussed. More precisely, particular forms of constitutive equations are derived on the basis of the band theory for intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors. These allow for the determination of some material coefficients relative to conduction and diffusion extensively studied from a microscopic viewpoint. However, the present macroscopic theory is much wider since it exhibits various couplings which cannot be accounted for through statistical mechanics. The present paper contains all the ingredients required in the study of linearized and nonlinear wave propagation problems in deformable and rigid semiconductors about an initial state and with different types of interfaces.