On the semiconductor drift diffusion equations (Q1913883)

The paper under review is concerned with the following system of drift-diffusion equations in semiconductor theory: \[ {\partial p\over \partial t}-\nabla\cdot(D_1\nabla p+\mu_1p\nabla\psi)=R(p,n),\tag{1} \] \[ {\partial n\over \partial t}-\nabla\cdot(D_2\nabla n-\mu_2n\nabla\psi)=R(p,n),\tag{2} \] \[ -\nabla\cdot(a\nabla\psi)=p-n+f\tag{3} \] in \(\Omega\times(0,+\infty)\) (\(\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^N\) a bounded Lipschitz domain, \(N=2,3,4\)), where \(p=\) density of holes, \(n=\) density of electrons, \(\psi=\) electrostatic potential, \(D_k\), \(\mu_k=\text{const}>0\) \((k=1,2)\), \(R=\) recombination/generation of carriers, \(f=\) doping profile, \(a=\text{const}>0\). Equations (1)--(3) are completed by the usual mixed boundary conditions on \(p\), \(n\) and \(\psi\) along \(\partial\Omega\times (0,+\infty)\) modelling an operating semiconductor device, and initial conditions on \(p\) and \(n\). First, the author proves the existence of a weak solution to (1)--(3) globally in time for initial conditions in \(L^2_+(\Omega)\). Then he proves two theorems concerning the uniqueness of weak solutions to (1)--(3) and their continuous dependence on the initial data. These results are heavily based on the integrability to a power \(q>2\) if \(N=2\), \(q=3\) if \(N=3\) of the gradient of the weak solution to the Poisson equation in \(\Omega\) under mixed boundary conditions.