Carrier Scattering
Defect types include atom vacancies, adatoms, steps, and kinks which occur most frequently at surfaces due to finite material size causing crystal discontinuity. What all types of defects have in common, whether they be surface or bulk, is that they produce dangling bonds which have specific electron energy levels not similar to those of the bulk. This is because these states cannot be described with periodic Bloch waves due to the change in electron potential energy caused by the missing ion cores just outside of the surface. Hence, these are localized states which one must solve the Schrödinger equation for separately such that electron energies can be properly described. The break in periodicity results in a decrease in conductivity due to defect scattering.
Read more about Carrier Scattering: Electronic Energy Levels of Semiconductor Dangling Bonds, Defect Scattering, Experimental Measurements, Passivation, Phonon Scattering, Acoustic Phonons, Optical Phonons
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