Do electron holes have negative mass?

Conclusion: Hole is a positive-charge, positive-mass quasiparticle.

Does an electron hole have mass?

If you fill up all the electron states, and consider one hole, there is an amplitude for the hole to hop to a neighboring location. This gives an effective mass as above, proportional to the inverse hopping amplitude.

Can an electron possess negative effective mass?

As a result, the electron mass in models such as the Drude model must be replaced with the effective mass. One remarkable property is that the effective mass can become negative, when the band curves downwards away from a maximum.

Is effective mass of hole negative?

We have here a negative effective mass. A hole in a semiconductor thus moves with the opposite of the negative electron mass, i.e. as if it has a positive effective mass. Thus we seldom need concern ourselves with electrons having a negative effective mass. Instead we have holes with positive effective mass.

What do you mean by negative effective mass of electron?

The negative effective mass tells you that the electron responds to the field opposite to how a free electron would. Physically, the fact that the electron accelerates opposite to the direction of the force is because the electron must reflect off the zone boundary.

Can negative mass of electron be negative justify?

As one can see from the dispersion curves, the effective mass of the electrons in the valence band, m*V, is always negative. (This means that a force in +x direction will cause such an electron to move in –x direction.)

Why do holes have negative mass?

We have here a negative effective mass. the bubble always moves the opposite way from what you would expect of a particle with mass, i.e. it moves with negative mass. A hole in a semiconductor thus moves with the opposite of the negative electron mass, i.e. as if it has a positive effective mass.

Does hole have mass?

In entirely classical terms, this requires one to move an electron, which has inertia and hence mass. That is, to move the hypothetical hole around, you need to apply a force to the physical electron and do work in the process. Hence the “hole” has mass.