Role in Semiconductor Physics: The Thermal Voltage
In semiconductors, the relationship between the flow of electrical current and the electrostatic potential across a p-n junction depends on a characteristic voltage called the thermal voltage, denoted VT. The thermal voltage depends on absolute temperature T as
where q is the magnitude of the electrical charge on the electron with a value 1.602 176 565(35)×10−19 C and k is the Boltzmann constant in Joules/K. In electronvolts, the Boltzmann constant is 8.617 3324(78)×10−5 eV/K, making it easy to calculate that at room temperature (≈ 300 K), the value of the thermal voltage is approximately 25.85 millivolts ≈ 26 mV . The thermal voltage is also important in plasmas and electrolyte solutions; in both cases it provides a measure of how much the spatial distribution of electrons or ions is affected by a boundary held at a fixed voltage.
Read more about this topic: Boltzmann Constant
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