<P> The partial filling of the states at the bottom of the conduction band can be understood as adding electrons to that band . The electrons do not stay indefinitely (due to the natural thermal recombination) but they can move around for some time . The actual concentration of electrons is typically very dilute, and so (unlike in metals) it is possible to think of the electrons in the conduction band of a semiconductor as a sort of classical ideal gas, where the electrons fly around freely without being subject to the Pauli exclusion principle . In most semiconductors the conduction bands have a parabolic dispersion relation, and so these electrons respond to forces (electric field, magnetic field, etc .) much like they would in a vacuum, though with a different effective mass . Because the electrons behave like an ideal gas, one may also think about conduction in very simplistic terms such as the Drude model, and introduce concepts such as electron mobility . </P> <P> For partial filling at the top of the valence band, it is helpful to introduce the concept of an electron hole . Although the electrons in the valence band are always moving around, a completely full valence band is inert, not conducting any current . If an electron is taken out of the valence band, then the trajectory that the electron would normally have taken is now missing its charge . For the purposes of electric current, this combination of the full valence band, minus the electron, can be converted into a picture of a completely empty band containing a positively charged particle that moves in the same way as the electron . Combined with the negative effective mass of the electrons at the top of the valence band, we arrive at a picture of a positively charged particle that responds to electric and magnetic fields just as a normal positively charged particle would do in vacuum, again with some positive effective mass . This particle is called a hole, and the collection of holes in the valence band can again be understood in simple classical terms (as with the electrons in the conduction band). </P> <P> When ionizing radiation strikes a semiconductor, it may excite an electron out of its energy level and consequently leave a hole . This process is known as electron--hole pair generation . Electron - hole pairs are constantly generated from thermal energy as well, in the absence of any external energy source . </P> <P> Electron - hole pairs are also apt to recombine . Conservation of energy demands that these recombination events, in which an electron loses an amount of energy larger than the band gap, be accompanied by the emission of thermal energy (in the form of phonons) or radiation (in the form of photons). </P>

Where are semiconductors located on the periodic table