FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OWERRI
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
ELE 504: SOLID STATE ELECTRONICS
ASSIGNMENT
Derivation of the Continuity Equation of Carrier Generation and Recombination
NAME: CHIUDE KOSISOCHUKWU
REG. NO: 20222325943
DEPARTMENT: ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
COURSE: ELE 504 – SOLID STATE ELECTRONICS
DATE: JULY 2026
1. Introduction
In a semiconductor, the concentration of charge carriers (electrons and holes) at any point
is not fixed; it changes with time due to three basic processes: the flow (drift and
diffusion) of carriers into and out of a region, the generation of new electron–hole pairs,
and the recombination of existing electron–hole pairs. The continuity equation is the
mathematical statement that keeps account of all these processes. It simply expresses the
law of conservation of charge: carriers cannot appear or disappear without a cause.
The total current density in a semiconductor is the sum of the electron and hole
components:
J = Jn + Jp
Figure 1: Carrier generation and recombination on the energy band diagram.
3. Derivation of the Continuity Equation
Let n be the electron concentration (electrons per cm3) inside the slice. The number of
electrons inside the slice can change for only three reasons:
(i) Electrons flowing in and out of the slice (current flow);
(ii) Electrons being created inside the slice (generation, Gn);
(iii) Electrons being lost inside the slice (recombination, Rn).
Therefore, in words:
Rate of increase of electrons = (Rate of flow in − Rate of flow out) + (Generation
rate − Recombination rate)
3.2 The Flow (Current) Term
The electron current density entering the slice at x is Jn(x), and the current density leaving
at x + dx is Jn(x + dx). Since electrons carry a negative charge (−q), a conventional
current density Jn corresponds to a flow of Jn/q electrons per unit area per second, but
flowing in the opposite direction to the conventional current.
The number of electrons entering the slice per second through the face at x + dx is:
(A/q) · Jn(x + dx)
and the number leaving per second through the face at x is:
(A/q) · Jn(x)
So the net rate of increase of electrons in the slice due to current flow is:
(A/q) · [ Jn(x + dx) − Jn(x) ]
Using the Taylor series expansion for a small slice, Jn(x + dx) can be written as:
Jn(x + dx) = Jn(x) + (∂Jn/∂x)·dx
Substituting this into the net flow term gives:
Net flow rate = (A/q) · (∂Jn/∂x) · dx
3.4 The Complete Balance
The total number of electrons in the slice is n·A·dx, so its rate of increase is (∂n/∂t)·A·dx.
Putting all the terms into the word equation of Section 3.1:
(∂n/∂t) · A·dx = (1/q)(∂Jn/∂x) · A·dx + (Gn − Rn) · A·dx
Dividing every term by the volume A·dx, we obtain the continuity equation for electrons:
∂n/∂t = (1/q) · (∂J n/∂x) + Gn − Rn … (1)
By exactly the same reasoning for holes — remembering that holes carry a positive
charge (+q), so a positive hole current leaving the slice reduces the number of holes
inside it — the sign of the current term is reversed, and we obtain the continuity equation
for holes:
∂p/∂t = −(1/q) · (∂Jp/∂x) + Gp − Rp … (2)
3.5 Expanded Form with Drift and Diffusion
The electron and hole current densities each consist of a drift component and a diffusion
component:
Jn = qnμnE + qDn(∂n/∂x)
Jp = qpμpE − qDp(∂p/∂x)
where μn, μp are the mobilities, Dn, Dp are the diffusion coefficients, and E is the electric
field. Substituting these into equations (1) and (2) gives the continuity equations in their
expanded form:
∂n/∂t = μn · ∂(nE)/∂x + Dn · ∂2n/∂x2 + Gn − Rn
∂p/∂t = −μp · ∂(pE)/∂x + Dp · ∂2p/∂x2 + Gp − Rp
5. Conclusion
The continuity equations for electrons and holes were derived by applying the principle
of conservation of charge to an elemental volume of a semiconductor. The final results
are:
∂n/∂t = (1/q)(∂Jn/∂x) + Gn − Rn
∂p/∂t = −(1/q)(∂J p/∂x) + Gp − Rp
These equations, together with the drift–diffusion current equations and Poisson's
equation, form the fundamental set of equations used to analyse all semiconductor
devices, including diodes, bipolar junction transistors and MOSFETs.