ABSTRACT
The information propagates in semiconductor devices, circuits, and chips due to charge carriers drifting in response to an applied electric field. In a very high electric field, the drift velocity response to the electric field saturates as all randomly moving vectors in a given device are streamlined and become unidirectional making the intrinsic velocity the ultimate velocity. This intrinsic velocity is ballistic as it does not depend on traditional scattering processes. A number of empirical relations to relate drift response to the electric field were put on trial to see which one fits the experimental data best. The theory of high-field-initiated transport has a rich and interesting history. Since World War II, starting with the work of W. Shockley and E. J. Ryder and Shockley who observed deviations from Ohm’s law, which led to current and drift velocity becoming sublinear as the electric field across the device was increased.
